Red Fraternity
by Guardian of Hope
Summary: They are the Red Rangers, brightly colored suits over serious minds, at least, until the battle is over. Then they are just a group of people with too much energy, time, and...alcohol? Sequal to Men in Black
1. Trip to the Stars

Disclaimer: I neither own nor profit from Power Rangers.

A/N: A while ago, I wrote Men in Black, about Black Rangers, and someone asked if I would consider doing Red Rangers as well. So I started working on it. This is the beginning. Think of Red Rangers as a giant fraternity, they initiate their members through idiotic stunts and lots of alcohol. This is somewhat AU, and so should MiB be considered.

* * *

Jason smiled to himself as he jogged through the park, although he'd always been athletic, the power that hummed through him now made even the most common activities something _more._ He hit the most deserted stretch of the path, the part that was shielded from view by trees and bushes. It was a favorite place for teenagers in the evenings, but this Saturday morning, it was only populated by Jason. A large crash made Jason freeze, it didn't sound like an animal. He lifted his wrist to contact Zordon; after all, he wasn't that stupid.

A black shroud covered Jason's face, and then he felt the familiar surge of teleportation. The shroud came off as the beam faded, and Jason gasped. He was floating in space, as he reached out; he realized that he was in a clear bubble with breathable air. His communicator chimed so he pressed the buttons, "Zordon?" He asked.

"No," an unfamiliar voice replied, oddly choked with emotion. "You are Jason Lee Scott, the Red Earth Ranger?"

"Uh, yes," Jason said, looking at his wrist, "Who are you? What do you want?"

"I'm Tallen, a fellow red ranger," the voice replied. "Think of this as your initiation into one of the greatest brotherhoods in the universe."

The bubble began to move and Jason gasped. The bubble moved even faster, zipping by the moon in moments, and then heading for the sun. Jason was pressed back against the end of the bubble and he tried to cling to it as the bubble began to weave. In moments, Jason was tumbling around like he was in a washing machine. He gritted his teeth, however, because who ever had him, Ranger or not, wanted to see what he was made of.

It seemed like forever, it was minutes only, but suddenly, Jason found himself whisked out of the bubble by teleportation and released into a room that spun. He tried to brace his feet, but couldn't. It wasn't until he tripped over them and sat down that he realized that there were four beings in red watching him. Two of them looked human, and both of them were laughing. The other two, well, one resembled a giant, blue dog, and the other looked like a human with a mask over his face. "Are you well?" The masked man asked, he sounded like he was underwater.

Jason blinked, "Uh," he began; then leaned over and gave them a detailed view of his light breakfast. Moments later, his stomach stabilized, as did the room about him.

"Don't worry," the dog said, "You aren't the first one to have that reaction."

One of the men offered his hand, "I'm Tallen, of Kerevas," he said, "Red Kerev Ranger."

"Jason," Jason managed, taking his hand. Tallen pulled him up and away from the mess. "Sorry about that."

"It's ok," Tallen said, "Like Wolvene said, it's not the first time that's happened. The servos will clean it up as soon as we're clear."

Jason nodded, he didn't know what a 'servo' was, but he figured that it was ok. He didn't want to clean it up himself for sure. "So, you are Jason," the other human said.

"Yes," Jason said.

"I am Trebon," he offered, "Red Eltarean Ranger."

"You are from Eltare like Zordon?" Jason asked.

"Yes," Trebon smiled, "you did not think we lived in tubes did you?"

"I didn't know what to think," Jason replied, shrugging, "It started so fast, I just went with what was going on."

"At times, that is all we can do," the dog said, "I am Wolvene, Red Sirian Ranger, from Sirius."

"And I," the masked man said, "am Aurico, the Red Aquitian Ranger. My team is the nearest to your own. Should you need us, simple call."

"Thank you," Jason said, "hopefully that call will be a long time coming."

"Indeed." Aurico said.

"Now that that is done with," Trebon said, slinging an arm around Jason, "let's go get a drink."

Jason blinked as he was half pushed, half pulled out of the hanger, "Where are we going?" He asked.

"To a bar," Tallen said, flashing him a grin. "You're one of us now."

"Um, I'm only fifteen," Jason pointed out, "the law says I can't drink for another six years."

"That's on Earth," Wolvene said, "which is an isolated, single species planet who doesn't know who its Rangers are. Out here, you are a Power Ranger, regardless of age. They won't refuse you."

Jason wanted to protest, but at the same time, he wanted to look worthy in their eyes, so he kept his mouth shut. "First off, you need a shower and fresh clothing. Then we're off to Desere," Trebon said.

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The next morning, as Jason sat, sweat-soaked, in the sick bay, while the other Reds dropped in to check on him, he realized that he had learned an important lesson…Kimichan Water and tacos were not a good combination, nor was it wise to encourage an Aquitian and a Sirian to sing Sweet Home Alabama.

* * *

A/N: First off, yes Wolvene is a Sirian like Cruger from SPD…I figure that _before_ Zordon died, SPD wasn't very big or recognized. It didn't become organized at the galactic level until after Zordon died and Grumm really started to worry people. It's called a creative license.

Two: The lovely and incredibly talented StarHawk gave me the idea that Rangers are immune to regular drinking age laws. Read her work, it's incredible!

Three: Who do you think would win in a fight: Tommy as Zeo Ranger Five or Andros from the START of Power Rangers in Space?


	2. Cultural Exchange

Disclaimer: I do not own POWER RANGERS

A/N: Sorry guys, I got caught up in the next chapter and forgot that I had yet to post this. I ask that you keep in mind that this is an Alternate Universe and each Ranger that you don't recongize is an OC. I've tried to keep from being too ooc on the guys, but I have this mental image of them that I'm trying to convey. As this story takes place a year after the first, please assume that Jason has spent time with the other Reds since his first trip. He likes the idea of visiting other planets, although he probably wouldn't live there.

* * *

Jason couldn't help it, he snickered and rubbed his hands together, he'd been waiting for the call from Aurico for weeks. He honestly couldn't wait to get Rocky initiated. It had been pretty strange to see Zack and Adam after their chat, and he knew that Trini had had words with Aisha. It wasn't right, but he didn't have a means to get off planet, and he needed the other Reds help for Rocky. When Trebon had finally shown up, apologizing for Aurico being held up, he had been quick to forgive, especially when Trebon helped him solve the final pieces of his puzzle. Now, all he had to do was "abduct" Rocky and they would be set. He was standing under a tree in one of the most secluded areas of the park, watching as Rocky and Adam jogged down the path. Suddenly, Adam tripped, courtesy of their newest partner in crime, Alia, who used telekinesis to hold the boy's foot down for a second longer than it should have. As Rocky slowed and turned to help Adam, Jason moved, lunging forward to grab his arm and triggering the teleportation.

As they arrived on the bridge of the _Oracle,_ Trebon's ship, Jason released Rocky and backed up as the new Red went on the defensive. Jason leaned against a control panel while Trebon turned in the pilot's chair. Alia and Jennis, another new Red, teleported onto the ship as it began to move. "What's going on?" Rocky demanded, looking around, "Who are you?"

"Well, I'm Jason," Jason offered.

Rocky gave him a dirty look before looking back at the other Reds, "I know that," he said.

"These are some of the other Red Rangers in the Galaxy," Jason relented after Tallen arrived. "Trebon, former Red Eltarean Ranger, Tallen, Red Kerev Ranger, Alia, Red Aura Ranger and Jennis, the new Eltarean Ranger; everyone, Rocky of Earth, Red Earth Ranger."

"Hi," Rocky said, crossing his arms, "what's going on, Jason?"

"Oh, we're just going to induct you and Jennis into the brotherhood of Red Rangers," Trebon said. "You should be grateful, at least you got to meet us before hand. Tallen and I just kidnapped Jason without warning."

"And after your initiation, we're going to Desere," Alia said, "where you will get drunk, and then fight half the bar before I save your butt and drag you back to Earth."

Jason sighed, "I'm never going to live that down am I?" He asked.

"Nope," Tallen said, with a grin, "I've never seen any other Ranger that aggressive after drinking Kimichan Water."

"I still blame the tacos," Jason replied.

"Tacos?" Jennis asked.

"Earth food," Trebon replied, "it's a crunchy bread filled with meat, and Earth produce; not that bad, actually."

Rocky, realizing that he wasn't going to find out much, just watched, it was clear that Jason knew these people, and was comfortable with them. Besides, hearing stories that Jason clearly found embarrassing was helping him with his own hero worship. "I say it was both," Alia said, "after all I was the one who had to take you down, Jason."

"I'm steering clear of the water this time, so it shouldn't be a problem," Jason said, trying to redirect the conversation. "Well, Rocky, Jennis, when Trebon and I realized that we were going to retire at the same time, and that both of our successors have a reputation for being walking food machines, we decided to settle a question we had. That is, who would win in an eating contest where the participants had to provide their opponents with a dish or food from their culture."

"This is a question that was brought about by a great deal of alcohol and cultural exchange," Trebon added, "so, Jennis, I know, has already selected a dish for you, Rocky. I believe that Jason has some ideas as well."

Jason grinned, "Let me talk to him in private, Trebon, I'm sure he has questions."

"You bet I do," Rocky muttered.

"Fine, but we'll be at our destination in an hour," Trebon said.

Jason gestured, "Come on Rocky, let me explain." He led the other Red off the Bridge and down to the galley. "Have a seat," he said, opening the beverage rack and pulling out a bottle, "Thirsty?"

"Water, please," Rocky replied.

Jason nodded and handed his friend another bottle. "Well, as near as I can explain it, being a Red Ranger is like being part of a fraternity. We're brothers, and sisters, and our loyalty is to our teams and each other. While we're Rangers, we sometimes get together, usually for an initiation like this, and after we retire, or in our case, gain more freedom from our parents, well, Zordon taught me to pilot a shuttle, and Trebon and I have located a few landing sites, so I can go and hang out with the guys. Trebon was, sort of my sponsor in to being a Red Ranger. Since I didn't have a planetary Red, Trebon was the guy I could talk to. Technically, that should have fallen to Aurico, but Aquitar and Earth are as likely to have periods of blackouts as we can get through. Eltare, being higher on the plain of eclipse is easier to reach. What's going on now is that the guys want to welcome you to the frat. Frankly, you're getting off easily, I was teleported off earth and shoved into an air bubble and dragged around the system without an explanation. Then they utilized my awe of them to go drinking. I got drunk, got angry, and tore apart half a level of Desere before Alia got me with a nerve pinch. You're going to have to eat pie, and then go get drunk. No fighting this time."

"So, you want me to prove I can eat more than Jennis, right?" Rocky said.

"Yeah," Jason said, he grinned, "I know you can do it, Rocky. Adam told me all about your pie eating record."

Rocky grinned, "That I can do. What about my part?"

"Well, I was thinking about suggesting jalapenos, I mean, they're a part of American culture, and Eltareans don't go for many spicy foods, so they'll be something he isn't used to." Jason shrugged, "it's your choice, though."

Rocky considered, then nodded, "You're right. If they don't eat spicy, that'll wake Jennis up." There was a glint of challenge in his eyes that reassured Jason.

Desere was a rather large complex geared towards entertainment for Rangers, soldiers and other fighters. Many Red initiations had taken place there, and with the thriving trade, it looked as if it would be a tradition that continued. For the new Earth and Eltarean Reds, one of the outdoor performance platforms had been commandeered so that everyone could observe the two. Jason, who had made a few trips to the small moon, was in his element, greeting some, meeting others, but always close enough to keep Rocky from being overwhelmed by the number and variety of species present. Jason also noticed the lack of Sirians at the complex, and remembered hearing of some new government the planet had embraced. He hoped his friend Wolvene was all right.

Finally, it was time to start the contest, Jason took his place behind Jennis, to ensure that the Eltarean didn't cheat, while Trebon stood behind Rocky. Alia and a Red Ranger from the crowd, an insect-like Bulsode named Kacvetch, were the other judges. "The rules," Alia said, her voice amplified by a small microphone clipped to her lapel, "are very simple. These gentle beings will eat as much of the chosen dish as they can before the end of ten minutes. The winner will receive the glory and honor of having the larger appetite. Are you ready?" Alia received nods from the pair. "Kacvetch, ready to start the timer?" Kacvetch nodded.

"Go!" Alia said. Kacvetch hit the button and the two young men tackled their food.

Rocky had opted to provide Jennis with his mother's special quesadillas, the typical meat and cheese in a tortilla had an extra kick to it with jalapeños and habanera sauce. It was an old time favorite of Rocky's, and as he began to eat his way to the cobbler like dish that Jennis had provided, he watched Jennis take his first bite. The wide eyes and beads of sweat had been worth the time he'd spent making them. As it was, he found himself in trouble with the ultra-sugary mess he'd been given. As any good food eating contest winner would do, he ignored the utensils given and just dug in with his hands. It was the taste, sweet enough to make him gag, that was giving him trouble. He blocked out the crowds, the commentary, everything, until the final whistle blew.

Rocky sat back and glanced over at his opponent, and stared. Most of the quesadillas were gone, he couldn't tell, but it looked as if Jennis had not eaten two or three out of the hundred that had been made. He looked at his own table. There were two plates untouched, all the others were, if not licked clean, were certainly empty. Rocky shook his head and rested it on his arms while the judges conferred. He was going to be sick, he knew it. That was way too much sugar to ingest in ten minutes. Even pies didn't dump that much into system.

"Gentle beings," Alia called finally.

Rocky looked up, his stomach calmer, "We have a winner!" Jason added, and then flinched as Alia's hand connected with the back of his head loudly.

"The winner is Rocky DeSantos of Earth," Kacvetch announced, the harsh buzz of his native language translated into English by his translator. "Red Earth Ranger."

Rocky stood and raised his hands over his head, summoning a trademark grin. Casually, he strolled over to Jennis and offered his hand, "Good show, Jennis," he said. Jennis looked at his hand for a moment than at him, "On Earth, competitors shake hands afterwards to show that it doesn't matter who won, there are no hard feelings. Good sportsmanship and all," he said quietly.

Jennis stood and bowed, "Congratulations Rocky DeSantos. While some would be pleased to take your hand, my mental abilities make contact with others occasionally painful and are rarely comfortable."

"Sorry," Rocky said, tucking his hands into his jean pockets. Then his eyes strayed to the last three quesadillas, "Say, are you going to eat those?" He asked.

A/N: Yes, I know, I'm terrible, but hey, I made it longer. I've decided that Trebon and Alia are going to be reoccurring characters, and yes, this is AU


	3. Alcohol Doesn't Mix

Disclaimer: The only thing I own in this is, uh, well, nothing.

A/N: This is Tommy's initiation, I think I was able to offer a few explinations here. You know, it's funny, but as I write each chapter, they not only get longer, but more detailed, and I can actually see more to this than just a group of guys goofing off. My muse must be working over drive.

* * *

"Jason, letter!" Zack sang as he burst into the room, he held up a stamp decorated letter, "It's from, uh, Rocky."

Jason held out his hand, not looking up from his book, "Thanks for doing the mail call," he said, eyes pouring over the textbook. "I really need to do well on this history test."

"No problem," Zack said, dropping the letter into his friend's hand, "you'll be helping me out next time."

Jason glanced up at his friend and smiled, "Yeah."

"I'm going to go see what Zahra's up to," Zack said, he dropped his bag on his bed and headed back out, humming.

Jason stood up and shut the door and then sat down on his bed, he hadn't heard from Rocky in a while, the other Red Ranger preferred to go solo unless he really needed something. Taking out the letter, he leaned against his headboard, wondering what Rocky needed. It was written in Eltarean, which meant it was serious Ranger business. It had been Rocky's idea, in fact, to learn Eltarean for when he needed Ranger-related help, because only Billy had shown any interest in learning other languages. Jennis and Trebon had been pleased to tutor the two.

_Jason,_

_I know I don't write often, and usually it's something personal, or rather, Red Ranger only stuff, but this is important. About two weeks ago, Rita's father, Master Vile, arrived and has been causing trouble. He unleashed the Orb of Doom which turned back time and made us into children. Billy created a device to bring us back to normal and it worked on him. Before we could be aged, however, Rita and Zedd destroyed the power coins! We thought it was the end of everything until Zordon told us about this crystal, the Zeo Crystal. It had been divided into five parts long ago and hidden on Earth. We went through a time hole to find the shards and it was crazy._

_I wound up in Mexico and I met my grandfather before I found my crystal on the side of a volcano._

_Adam went to Korea and an old man lead him to his._

_Kat was in Australia and she said she met two older versions of herself who tested her before giving her the crystal._

_Tommy wound up in the Old West in an Indian village where a shaman named True of Heart guided him on a vision quest that resulted in his._

_Aisha, well, Aisha went to Africa for hers, and she met a girl named Tanya. The thing is, there was a plague in Africa that was causing the animals to act abnormally. Aisha chose to stay and sent Tanya with her crystal. So Aisha's gone and now we have Tanya. She's nice; I think Adam has a crush on her already. The bad part to this is that Billy retired, he says he wants to work in the Command Center more, instead of fighting. It's weird, not having him as part of the team when we fight._

_That's not the strange part though, Jason, when we got the crystals, Tommy, Adam and I changed colors. Kat's still pink and Tanya's yellow. Adam now wears green and I'm blue! Jason, I don't know how to be a blue ranger! I'm not smart or anything and nobody seems to have time to explain what I'm supposed to do now. I would rather have been red, but Tommy's red now. Yeah, that's the other reason I'm writing…we need to get together and torment Tommy now. Well, not much more to write, so I'll see you when I see you._

_The one time Red Ranger_

_Rocky_

Jason considered the letter for a long moment, looking between the lines for insight into his friend's mind. He decided that Rocky was probably miserable without Aisha to hand around with, but happy that Adam had finally seemed to notice a girl. Loosing Billy was probably another shock, and one that seemed to be all bad as the vacancy as blue ranger had fallen to Rocky. "He needs a drink," Jason murmured, feeling a faint grin tug at his lips. He sat up off the bed, folding the letter and returning it to its envelope. Then he stood and slid the letter under the mattress with the other 'Ranger' letters he'd gotten in the past year.

Then he walked over to the door and took a red shoe string from the collection of things that had been draped over the hook on the back and opened the door to hang it over the door knob. That would let Zack know that he was using their comm. system to chat with Trebon, or Jennis. It depended on who was free. After locking the door, Jason walked back to his desk and opened the bottom drawer. Under all the seemingly random items was a metal box that Jason pulled out and sat on the desk. It opened to reveal a screen set into the lid and the communications hardware in the bottom. He keyed in the Eltarean Rangers' comm. code and sat back to see who he could talk to.

Moments later, to Jason's pleased surprise, Trebon answered, "Jason! How are you?"

Jason sighed, "Bored out of my mind! Why did I think being a peace talker was such a good idea?"

"Beats me," Trebon shrugged, "Want to get away? Desere hasn't had any holes added in a while."

"Maybe," Jason said, "first, I need ideas."

"For what?" Trebon asked.

"There's a new Red Ranger in town," Jason replied, "and I wanted to welcome him to the club."

"Oh, who?" Trebon asked, "And how?"

"Remember Tommy Oliver?" Jason asked, he hoped his friend would. It was because of Tommy that he had cemented this friend slash mentor relationship with Trebon. After his experiences in the Dark Dimension, only the older and more experienced Red Ranger had given him the confidence to do what he needed to. As he had told Trebon after many bottles of Dendarian Fire, a whiskey-like drink, he'd never really met someone better than him with a drive to kill him. It had deeply shaken his confidence. Having Tommy join the team had been a band-aid, especially as their friendship grew, but Jason and Trebon both knew how hard it had been for Jason to lead the Rangers until Tommy had been chosen to take over.

"The Evil Green who came back as White?" Trebon replied, "Of course." He paused, this his eyes widened, "That's your new Red Ranger?"

"Yeah," Jason sat back, sighing. "Apparently they lost the Ninja Powers and are now Zeo Rangers."

Trebon whistled as he leaned back, "So, since you are the Senior Red, what do you want to do?"

"Can I be honest and say that I don't think we should make him do anything?" Jason asked, he shifted forward in his seat, "I mean, Tommy's proven himself to me time and again. He's proven himself to his team. I honestly think they'd follow him anywhere. Can't we just get him drunk and see what happens?"

Trebon laughed, "I like it, let's get Rocky to tell Tommy some stories about initiations, and then we'll go get him. I'll load up Jennis and we'll see if Aurico and Alia want to join us. We can be there in about a week."

"You got it," Jason replied, "The anticipation will drive him nuts. It will also give them time to come up with a cover story. I mean, Adam and Zack covered last time. We'll see about this time."

"Until then," Trebon said, "stay out of trouble."

"You to," Jason replied and shut down the machine. He glanced at the clock marked Angel Grove, and set to work. Rocky would be out of school and possibly free to talk.

_**ONE WEEK LATER…**_

Tommy looked over at Rocky nervously, Rocky grinned, "No worries, Tommy. I promise it won't be hard; maybe embarrassing, but not hard." They were standing in a secluded part of the park, waiting for Jason to arrive. Rocky was excited; he kept walking around the edge of their spot impatiently, his red shirt and blue jeans a testament to his dual colors. Tommy, on the other hand, was standing near the center of the clearing, and kept trying to find some form of inner peace. He wore a red shirt and jeans as well, his long hair pulled back into a neat tail.

A red shimmer interrupted Tommy's response, and Jason appeared. He was dressed casually in jeans and a red t-shirt and his smile spoke of his excitement. "Hey bro," he said, offering his hand.

"Hey," Tommy said, gripping it, then they hugged tightly and stepped back, "You ok?"

"Yeah," Jason said, "are you ready?"

"Not really," Tommy said.

Rocky laughed, "He's ready, he's just nervous." He picked up the two duffels and tossed Tommy's over to him.

"Let's go then," Jason said, "Trebon, Aurico and the others are waiting." He lifted his comm. unit to his mouth and said, "We're ready."

Two red shimmers and a blue one announced their arrival on board the _Wanderer_, Trebon's private ship. Rocky grinned as the blue shimmer faded, "Hey Jennis, Alia, Aurico, Trebon," he said, waving.

"Hey Rocky," Alia said, "What's with the blue?"

Rocky rolled his eyes, "New powers, Tommy got mine and I got blue. Zeo Blue, though, which Zordon said was different from our old powers."

"Yes," Aurico said, "it is good to see you again, Rocky, and you Tommy."

"Same here," Tommy said.

"All right," Jason said, "Tommy, you know Aurico already, this is Jennis, the Eltarean Red Ranger, Alia, the Red Aura Ranger, and Trebon, who's a retired Red Ranger, like me. Except he's from Eltare. Everyone, this is Tommy, former Green and White Rangers, now he's the Red Zeo Ranger."

"Nice to meet you," Trebon said, "Jason's told me a lot about you."

Tommy nodded, "Nice to meet you as well. You'll forgive me, but I haven't been told about any of you."

"That's my fault," Jason said, "you weren't there when I became a Red, and we had to leave so soon after the Transfer. I'm surprised that Rocky didn't tell you anything."

Rocky shrugged, "We started and we didn't slow down. I know you had time to spend off-planet, but it hasn't been that easy for me. It never really came up. Not until we decided that he should be initiated, that is. I didn't tell him the taco story, though. I figured that I should let Alia tell it."

Alia laughed, "We'll wait until Jason's too drunk to care."

Jennis snorted, "We're almost there anyway."

"Almost where?" Tommy asked.

"Desere," Jason replied, rubbing his hands together. "Now, as the senior Red Ranger of Earth, my job is to decide how a Red Ranger's initiation goes. Since we are from a less advanced planet, my friends have been helping out. Well, when I heard that you were the new Red Ranger, I realized that you had already proven yourself as a leader, and as a Ranger. Since everyone agreed with me, we decided that we were just going to take you out for drinks to welcome you."

Tommy frowned, "I thought that, well, I was going to have to do something."

"Oh, we might volunteer you to help out with another initiation," Trebon said, "but we don't think you really need one of your own."

"We have arrived," the computer announced.

"Great," Jason said, he slung his arm over Tommy's shoulder, "don't worry about it, Tommy. Just enjoy it. At least I didn't go with Jennis and Alia's idea that you should have to fetch a crystal from a Kevrack's lair or something."

"Great," Tommy said, uneasy. He knew they had something up their sleeves. Rocky had been pretty firm on that, and his stories had just cemented that feeling.

Three hours later, Tommy had forgotten his earlier uneasy feelings; he'd been introduced to a series of strange alcoholic beverages and was feeling fairly good. The other Rangers had told him stories designed to embarrass each other and to inspire laughs. Many other Rangers, not just Reds, had also dropped by and insisted on sharing out shots. Just as the last group moved on, someone crashed into Tommy, pushing him into the table and knocking the table over.

As many people can tell you, when drinking alcohol, your emotions tend to run in the extreme, and change faster than lightening. So a happy drunk can become a weeping drunk or an angry drunk in less time than would normally occur. So when Tommy recovered from his fall, and the other person had stood up, it was not so surprising when Tommy surged to his feet and threw a punch at the same time. In fact, it didn't take long for the two men to trigger one of the room clearing brawls that occurred in Desere on occasion.

Although Tommy appeared to be the drunker of the two combatants, it was clear that alcohol and anger did not hinder his skills. He was easily and merrily beating the other man into a pulp when a blur of silver emerged from the surrounding fight and tackled him with a cry. Jason, seeing Tommy go down, shouted, "Pin him, Trebon, help!"

Between the four, for Tommy's opponent had promptly grabbed and pinned a leg, they held him down. Aurico appeared as if summoned and dumped a bucket of water on them moments before the water system kicked in, dropping buckets of water down onto the brawlers.

Tommy stared up at a stranger and Jason with a frown, "What happened?" He asked.

"Brawl," Jason said, he looked over at the stranger, "You calm now?"

"Yeah, bro," Tommy replied.

"All right, let's let him up," Jason said, standing. With the others standing, he offered his hand to Tommy, "Come on, get up."

Tommy stood and looked around as people started looking around. Standing close to him was a young man, about fifteen or sixteen perhaps, with brown hair that had broad blond highlights in a pair of gray pants and a red top, beside him was a blond haired young man in a black pair of pants and a silver top. "I'm Jason," Jason said, offering his hand, "Thanks for your help."

"I'm Zane," the blond said, "This is Andros. I wasn't about to leave my teammate alone in a fight."

"I'm Tommy," Tommy said, beginning to understand, "Sorry about starting that."

Andros shrugged, "It is ok, I'm not much of a drinker either. I don't like the way it suspends my judgment."

"Yeah," Tommy said, "I don't think I'll be much of one either. My friends decided that since I'm now a Red Ranger, I should come celebrate."

"I'm a new Red myself," Andros said, "my mentor, Kara, brought me here to celebrate after my initiation."

"What system are you from?" Jason asked.

"The Kerova system," Andros replied, "KO-35 to be exact, and you?"

"Earth," Tommy and Jason said in unison.

"I'm the senior Red on Earth," Jason said, "our other Red, Rocky, is around here somewhere."

Aurico sighed, "I believe that Rocky and Alia returned to the _Wanderer_ shortly before the fight began."

"Ah," Jason said with a smile. "We should think about leaving, I don't think Managements' going to be happy with us for a while."

"No," Aurico said, "I don't think they will."

"Yes," Andros said, "we should go as well. Maybe we'll see you here some other time."

"Maybe," Jason said as Jennis and Trebon came out of the crowd with a woman in an outfit similar to Andros's.

"Ready to go?" Jennis asked.

"Yeah," Jason said, as Tommy nodded. The bar room vanished in favor of the Bridge, and the lovely view of Rocky and Alia half dressed and making out on one of the consoles.

"My eyes!" Tommy cried, unable to help it, he clamped a hand over them and pretended to vomit, "I'm going to…" he began before his stomach heaved for real.

It is safe to say that Tommy learned some valuable lessons from his first trip to Desere. The most important being that one should always make sure that the Bridge is not being used as a boudoir before returning to the ship.

* * *

A/N2: I couldn't do it, I couldn't let Andros lose, so although he might have, I had to bring in one of my personal favorite Rangers...Zhane to the rescue!


	4. Little, cute and fuzzy not harmless

Disclaimer: NOT MINE!

A/N: So, I made myself a promise that I would post a chapter only if the next one was finished...thing is, I thought this one was a little too funny not to share asap. So I wrote a chapter that I hadn't originally planned, just to share this with you guys. No, I don't have a clue how to discribe the Barak...think cute and fuzzy, between knee and hip high. Golden Guardians falls between the last chapter and this one obviously...

* * *

Tommy and Jason returned to Earth in silence, thinking about their friend's new future. Rocky had surprised no one on the team with his decision, and his family had been surprised, but supportive when Rocky had told them about his past as a Ranger, and his plans to marry a human from another world. The wedding on Earth had been private and elegant, and meant for Rocky's parents alone. Now, six months later, they had headed to Alia's planet, Javor, for a smaller party, to celebrate their friend's latest news, and to discuss the implications of the impending arrival of the first of the next generation. After the ceremony Alia's people held to welcome the impending arrival of their newest citizen, they had all partied Ranger-style, and then had said their farewells. Rocky and Alia were made for each other, even Aisha had agreed to that, but their choice to live on Javor had meant that it would be a long time between visits.

Jason had almost followed Rocky's path, finding a home off-planet, but in the end, he found that while visiting Desere, Javor and Eltare, among other places, was a wonderful vacation, in the end, he wanted to return to his planet. He had fought for and nearly died for Earth, and nothing could replace the bond he felt. Tommy wasn't fond of space travel, had, in fact, chosen to limit his trips off planet after his induction to the fraternity.

Now, they stood on the bridge of Jason's personal ship, the _Red Dragon_ and stared down at the jewel of a planet. "We should go," Tommy said, finally. "We have to make plans for TJ's induction to being a Ranger."

Jason nodded, "Trebon wants to see him do a crystal rescue. Given that Divatox isn't as, well…" he trailed off, looking for a diplomatic statement.

"Divatox is stupid," Tommy said, "she's a threat, because stupid people can kill just as easily as smart people, but she's stupid as well."

"Yeah," Jason said, "I just didn't want to insult you."

"Hey, no worries," Tommy replied, "I know exactly what Divatox is. In a way, she's the perfect person to be attacking right now. We wouldn't have retired as a group for Mondo."

"Yeah, so, back to TJ. Like I said, Trebon wants to do a crystal rescue, and I think he may have something." Jason said.

"What's a crystal rescue?" Tommy asked.

"A crystal rescue is when one of us places a crystal in the cave of a creature that's mostly harmless. Then we take the morpher from the Rookie and make him get the crystal back. After that, we go out and get drunk. At some point we give the Rookie his morpher back." Jason replied, "I was in on one when Trebon's friend Kea retired, the poor Rookie got his arse handed to him by a kraken."

"Isn't that a dangerous sea monster?" Tommy asked.

"Nah," Jason replied, "he looks like an octopus crossed with a hydra, but he's only about six feet tall."

"Oh," Tommy said. He stood, "I agree with you on doing a crystal rescue for TJ, but I have to get back. Uncle John's expecting me today."

"I'll call you with the information on TJ's induction," Jason said, also standing, "I need to get back too, I have a class soon."

"See you next time," Tommy said and teleported out.

Jason smiled and followed suit.

Tommy rubbed his shoulder as he walked into the Surf Spot, according to Kat, Justin and the others had made this their regular hangout spot. Sure enough, it was easy to make out Justin's higher pitched voice in the crowd; he smiled as his eyes adjusted from the bright California sun and walked towards the sound of Justin's voice. In moments, he spotted the five Rangers sitting around a table sipping drinks and munching on a plate of fries. "Hey Justin," Tommy said as he reached conversational distance.

"Tommy!" Justin said, "I didn't know you were back!"

Tommy started to shrug and winced, "Yeah, I've got a few weeks off, medical purposes. So I thought I'd drop by and see how things were going."

Justin immediately launched into a series of reassurances while Tommy covertly studied his successor. The younger teen looked composed, with a faint smile of indulgence at Justin's fast paced stream of words. When he finally wound down, Tommy nodded, "Well, that's good, Justin, I'm glad you're doing all right. Listen, TJ, can I talk to you for a moment, in private?"

TJ's surprised look faded quickly, "Sure, Tommy." He stood and the pair walked towards the door and outside, "What's up?" TJ asked.

Tommy smiled, "It's nothing bad, TJ, really. It's just, well, you're the Rookie and some of our friends have been curious. I was wondering if you could clear some time this weekend for a trip. Nothing big, really, they just want to see what you're made of. Adam and Zack have even dug out their morphers in case it's needed."

"Well, I don't really have plans," TJ said after a moment, "but what should I tell my uncle?"

Tommy shrugged, "Well, in the past, especially for an overnighter, we used to tell our parents that we were going to spend the night with a friend: Usually Billy because his dad went on so many trips. I'll even get your friend a voice modifier to cover for you if your parents call."

"All right," TJ nodded, "I'll talk to Carlos."

"Great," Tommy said, he dug out the scrap of paper he'd written his number on. "This is for my parents' place; give me a call when everything's set up, ok?"

"Yeah," TJ said, "no problem."

Tommy and TJ teleported to the _Red Dragon_ on Saturday morning, after giving TJ's uncle a cover story involving a day hike out at the Reservation with Tommy's brother David. The rest of the team would be going on that hike to lend verisimilitude to the story. That they would be crashing out at the reservation made it just that much easier for Tommy and TJ to join Jason. "TJ," Tommy said, "this is Jason Lee Scott, the first Red Earth Ranger, and the senior Red for Earth. Jason, this is TJ, the Red Turbo Ranger."

"Nice to meet you," Jason said, shaking TJ's hand, "We'll be meeting up with some other Reds on Javor, including the other Red Ranger, Rocky DeSantos and his wife Alia. From there, we'll be heading to Anquizor." He turned back to the controls and soon the sleek ship was racing at Hyperrush Nine for Javor.

"So, what can I expect?" TJ asked.

"Well, since this is your first trip," Jason said, "we're taking it easy. Alia is Human, female and Red, so try not to insult her. Meeting us will be two of the Eltarean Reds, Jennis, the current Red and his predecessor Trebon. Tallen's coming, and he's bringing a friend, Kresent, who will be taking over from him soon, I think. Aurico wanted to come, but he's busy." The last bit was more for Tommy than TJ.

"Well," Tommy said, "I'll see him some other time, then." He frowned at Jason, who looked distracted, "Hey, what's wrong?"

Jason blinked, "Nothing, Tom. Here, TJ, let's get you settled in. _Red's_ not exactly a luxury liner, but she's big enough for trips like this." The former Red tapped a few buttons on his screen and then steered TJ off the Bridge, heading for the crew quarters. Tommy watched them leave before heading for the consol Jason had fiddled with.

There was a text missive on the reader screen, dated almost six months past. Tommy frowned, but read it, knowing that Jason had planned for it.

_Jason,_

_I don't know if you remember that kid Tommy fought during his initiation, Andros of KO-35 and his friend, Zhane, but even if you don't, this letter is extremely important. About two or three months after you met the Red and Silver Rangers, KO-35 fell. We didn't know all the details, until recently, but Dark Specter sent his Second to personally oversee the conquest. Most of the Kerova team is dead, or otherwise unable to continue with the team. Andros still keeps the red morpher, but has not indicated a willingness to let others have the others. As for Zhane, he is presumed dead. What fragments of recordings we have indicated the Silver Ranger took a blow meant for Andros and fell, however, his body was not recovered and Andros refuses to say anything. One small measure of comfort is that most of the civilian population had already been evacuated following an attack that nearly decimated Kara's team. When we met Andros and Zhane at Desere, Zhane had recently received the Silver morpher from the Eltareans' Silver Ranger._

_I'm telling you this because there is a chance that Dark Specter will see Earth as a viable target in his quest to destroy the League. Certainly it will happen at some point. Please warn your teammates, the worst may be coming to Earth before we can stop it._

_Trebon_

Tommy swallowed, he remember the other Rangers, the kid with the stripped hair and his spiky-blonde friend, the pair had been rather mismatched, but easily as close as he was to Jason, if not closer. They had met up after sleeping off the alcohol and Andros had struck Tommy as a boy who had been driven hard by life, and was haunted by demons the same as Tommy, even if the demons were different. "It's bad," Jason said, startling Tommy.

"I didn't even suspect," Tommy said, turning.

"I would have told you sooner," Jason replied, "but after I gave Trey back his Powers, I went to Triforia, remember? I got this letter then. When I came back, you were traveling all over Southern California with your Uncle between Divatox's attacks and helping Rocky explain to his parents about Alia."

"It's ok," Tommy said, "I know now." He cleared the screen and turned, "So, what do we tell TJ?"

"About what?" TJ asked as he walked onto the Bridge.

"About what you'll be doing," Tommy said, "I know some of the details, but I'm not sure if we have precedent over Trebon."

"I do," Jason said, "as Senior Red, it's my prerogative to arrange these things. Trebon's just my mentor, and good at helping me set this kind of thing up."

"So what am I doing?" TJ asked.

"Well," Jason said, "Trebon has been begging me to do a crystal rescue with an Earth Red for years. The last human to try got his butt kicked by a creature shorter than he was. It's an embarrassing fact. So, I've decided to agree. You are going to go, with out your morpher, into the cave of a pair Barak, and fetch out the crystal planted with in. A Barak is a creature that's about as intelligent as a dog, and they eat plants. They're about the size of a small child. They will probably try to swarm you looking for a plant, but you'll be fine. They're pretty friendly, actually."

"So I go into this cave, powerless, and retrieve a crystal while finding off two plant eating creatures?" TJ asked, crossing his arms.

"Pretty much," Jason said. The computer chimed, "Ah look, we're at Javor. Computer, please contact Rocky and Alia."

Moments later, the familiar face of the other Earth Red was on the screen, "Jason, Tommy!" He said, "What's going on?"

Tommy looked at Jason, "You didn't tell him?"

"I left a message," Jason replied. "We're inducting TJ, Rocky. We thought you and Alia would like to come along."

Rocky's face started to fall, "Rocky can," Alia said, nudging her husband out of her way. "I'm staying home; space travel and pregnancy do not mix."

Rocky's face showed his battle between wanting to go and to say, "Are you sure? I can stay. I'm sure they can send us a copy of the recording."

Tommy blanched, and glared at Jason, who contrived to look innocent. "You go," Alia said, "and you make sure they get a good record. You don't get to see Tommy and Jason all that often any way."

"But…" Rocky said.

"You are going," Alia said. "Go pack a bag. He'll be up soon." The screen went blank.

Jason let out a bark of laughter, "He's good," Tommy said.

"What?" TJ asked.

"He used to do that to his parents all the time," Tommy explained, "we'd invite him off to do something and he would play that he wanted to go, but would stay home and help with his parents. They would shove him out the door over half the time. Sometimes they would really need him, and Rocky would simply tell us. Other times, he would play that game and get free."

"Oh," TJ replied, "reverse psychology."

"Yeah," Jason said, "it's no wonder he was as good as a Blue as he was as a Red." The comm. chirped before TJ could ask, "Rocky?"

"Beam me up, Scotty," Rocky said, making Jason roll his eyes.

"Teleporting now," Tommy said, hitting the buttons.

Rocky arrived on the ship with a grin, "Does that ever get old?" Jason asked.

"Nope," Rocky replied. "I'll just put this bag in the back, where are we headed?"

"Anquizor," Tommy replied, "TJ's doing a crystal rescue against a pair of Barak."

"The bounty hunters?" Rocky asked.

"No, a Barak is a relatively harmless creature found on Anquizor." Tommy replied.

Rocky shrugged, "Ok," he turned and wandered into the back of the ship.

As the door slid shut, Jason turned to Tommy, "Sometimes, I just wonder about him," he said.

Tommy smiled, "Rocky is Rocky, I've often found it best to trust that he knows what he's doing."

TJ frowned, "I thought Rocky was a blue?" He finally said.

"Red first," Tommy replied as he watched Jason put in their next course. "He only became a Blue when he was a Zeo."

"Oh," TJ said, at a loss for words.

Jason stood amongst the group of Red Rangers and tried to hide his smile as TJ cautiously approached the cave. Although they had comfortable chairs waiting, and view screens, the seven Red Rangers stood in a line, arms crossed, watching TJ. The young man looked at them, and then entered the cave. "Finally," Tallen muttered, turning, "jeez, he's cautious."

Jason covered his mouth for a moment, but Rocky had no such control, "Yes, because charging into a fight with a Taurobus is smart."

Tallen shot Rocky a dirty look before hauling his chair from the stack and setting it up. He then sat down and turned his attention to the small viewer in his hand, which showed the real time images of TJ's journey through the cave.

The other Reds followed suite, the last of them getting settled just as the Barak came into TJ's view. As the creatures approached TJ, Trebon sighed, "At least he's wearing synthetics, and they'll just be friendly."

Jason looked at Trebon, "He's wearing cotton, Trebon, it's organic."

Trebon stilled, and the others looked at Jason, "You let him wear what I assume is clothing made from plant fibers?" Jennis asked.

"Let him? I'm sorry, I don't dress my Rangers," Jason replied.

"Um," Tommy said, "what's wrong?"

"If it could be phrased this way," Kresent said, cautiously, "for the Barak, such cloth would be a delicacy."

"Hey!" TJ's shout interrupted them and Jason looked at his viewer in horror. The Barak pair had somehow knocked TJ over and was clearly eating his shirt and pants. "Ugh! Not my underwear!" TJ cried.

The half dressed teen knocked the two Barak away from him and got up, looking horrified, and then determined. He started forward at a fast walk, then to jog as the Barak followed him. Finally, he ran, heading into the cave system. "He's not stopping," Rocky observed.

"Dedicated," Jennis replied.

Soon, the glowing red crystal that was the object of TJ's quest came into view. TJ grabbed it and turned back, only to freeze: in addition to the pair of large Barak, there where now five smaller ones. "It's a breeding pair," Trebon said, unnecessarily.

"It's like a train wreck," Tommy said, "you want to stop watching it, but you just can't."

Valiantly, TJ struggled against the Barak, but soon tripped over one of the little ones and was pinned by the fuzzy creatures.

Kresent stood, "I'll go get him a blanket." The others nodded, unable to tear their eyes from the screen.

It seemed like forever before the naked form of TJ came to the cave mouth. One hand rested almost casually over his pelvic region, the other held the crystal tightly. "Well," he said quietly, "you guys sure know how to throw a party."

Kresent threw the blanket over TJ's shoulders, "Come on, let's go get you a drink, then we'll burn all the copies of that recording."

As the group dissolved into red sparkles, Trebon winked at Jason, who grinned back.


	5. One Drunk Night

Disclaimer: They ain't mine!

A/N: I feel like I'm cheating you guys 'cause this is so short...but to point out, I threw it together so that I could get TJ's story out with Tommy's. It's just one drunk night on the Megaship, as a pair of Reds make friends. To make up for this, with a break to drive two hour to get a mattress to take to my grandparents and then drive back, I will attempt to have Carter's finished so that Leo's can be posted. I think I explained before, but Dendarian Fire is like Jack Daniel's...And to point out, the time difference in updates should indicate the nature of the next chapter.

* * *

TJ leaned against the table in the glider bay, facing Andros, "So, you got initiated, and then got in a brawl with Tommy, as in the guy who chose me to be a Ranger?"

"Precisely," Andros replied, "he almost had me to. What was your initiation like?"

TJ looked away, his face tight, "I don't want to talk about it."

"How bad?" Andros said, nudging the bottle of Dendarian Fire closer to his new teammate. The pair had decided to take the time to get to know each other, as both were Reds and used to leading a team. It hadn't taken long before Andros had produced the alcohol and the stories had started. TJ shared his pizza story, Andros told him about one of his old teammates and the meat eating plant, then they'd gotten to talk about leading teams, and that led to initiations, helped along by two or three more bottles of alcohol.

TJ looked at him for a moment, then drained his almost full glass, poured a second and drained that, "I got stripped naked by a group of adorable fuzzy creatures called the Barak. Apparently, nobody realized that I was wearing a Barak delicacy."

Andros snorted, then tried to look sympathetic, the alcohol didn't help, "Man, that's bad, crystal rescue?"

"Yeah," TJ replied.

"At least you didn't have to fight the half the people on Onyx," Andros said, draining his own glass.

"Part of yours?" TJ asked, looking a little down cast.

"No, but it happened once. Mine was fairly mundane, actually. Good blackmail material, but mundane. No risk of death by Barak," Andros shrugged.

"So what did they do?"

"Kerovan drinking game," Andros replied. "It was on the morning holocast, with recaps through out the day. Apparently, I was so drunk that I sang the, uh, explicit version of this song, written by a race called the Kankaros, about the duty of Rangers. While naked, standing in the middle of the Memorial Fountain that marks where the first ships landed on KO-35." Andros refilled his glass and drained it, ignoring the way TJ's face lit up at the thought of someone who had been as completely humiliated as he had, "Complete with the dance."

TJ's laughter echoed through the once empty ship as pink and yellow sparkles lit up the room.


	6. Life Ain't Always Beautiful

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers

A/N: Leo's story was a lot more angsty than I planned, but I blame that on this story, it's fabulous, but, well...it's called Unique by walutahanga and you should read it. Anyways, my apologizes for the last line, but I thought it was a perfect ending, and if you don't like it, well, sorry. (Not really but I'm inclined to be nice today.)

* * *

Andros found Leo in the forest dorm, leaning against a tree and staring at the Galactabeasts. "Hi," he said quietly.

Leo looked up, his eyes were red and anguish filled his face, "Andros," he said.

Andros squatted beside him, staring at the ground, "I'm sorry," he said finally. "I know how hard it is to loose someone like this."

"Zhane came back," Leo replied.

Andros shook his head, quietly, he pondered the dirt before speaking; "Their names were Analyn and Neverro, the pink and yellow Rangers respectively. They were part of the team when we fought on KO-35. When, when the evac started, Zhane and I were on the Megaship, providing cover in-system. Ana, Nev, Loryn, and Jos were escorting shuttle groups on the Delta Megaship and the Zeta Megaship. Ana and Nev had Zeta, because Zeta was the oldest of the Megaships, and wasn't running at top capacity. They encountered one of the capital ships Dark Specter had and the entire group was destroyed. Loryn and Jos had to use the escape pods on the Delta Megaship and we didn't see it again until Phantom returned it. At first, I thought they were dead too, it wasn't until we met up with the survivors from KO-35 that I heard their story. They had returned their morphers to me because they hadn't expected to survive. It was Phantom who saved them. Jos couldn't be a Ranger anymore; he lost his arm when the Megaship was under attack. Loryn wouldn't fight without him; they came as a set always." Andros stared at the dirt, but could feel Leo's eyes on him, "Most people don't think about where the Astro morphers came from," he said quietly, "the Astros know about my first team, Zhane told them when I couldn't. I would prefer it if you didn't spread around what happened."

"Don't worry," Leo said, "I'll respect your privacy."

"Thank you." Andros sighed, "You know, I was planning to come see you before the Psychos showed up."

"Yeah?" Leo asked.

"Well, you are a new Red, and since technically you are a space ranger that means that I'm your senior. If you have any questions or problems, it's my job to help you out. Believe me; I had to fight Jason for this. Jason's senior on Earth. When Terra Venture gets to wherever it's going and you pass your power, you'll be senior there." Andros sighed, "It's also my job to see that you pass an initiation. However, I'm not going to ask you to do that, not now. Later, well, later TJ and I will take you out to one of the drinking establishments that Rangers frequent and we'll all get good and drunk. How does that sound?"

"I'm not a drinker," Leo replied.

Andros snorted, "You Earthers, it's not about the alcohol, it's about being one of us. Besides, I've never met an Earth Red that didn't drink, and get into a fight. Jason did it, first time they took him to Desere. Rocky, well, Rocky used to be tackled and tied down, but I think that was just because alcohol doesn't seem to be a soporific for him as it is for Jason and Tommy, if anything, it seems to make him even more energetic. Tommy, well," Andros grinned, "Tommy and I met the first time he went to Desere. We got into it, but I blame it all on him. He's the one who hit first. TJ, well, TJ was spoiling for a fight. Don't ask him about his initiation; it still takes a _lot_ of alcohol to get him to spill."

"Why?" Leo asked.

"Because Jason and the others managed to humiliate him utterly, and to this day, Jason insists it wasn't on purpose." Andros replied. He stood, "Leo, brooding on Kendrix's sacrifice isn't going to make her come back. Honor her and her choice, and mourn her. Just, don't be afraid to talk to your team. I know that Ana and Nev would like that I am able to remember them as much with laughter as with tears."

Leo didn't get up, but Andros felt that he wasn't tearing himself up as much as he had been before.

**One Year Later…**

Mike couldn't help it, "So, you want to talk to the Red Galaxy Ranger," he said, staring at the comm. screen.

"Yes," replied the Red Astro Ranger, who managed to look fairly calm yet commanding.

"Mr. Corbett, what is going on?" Commander Stanton asked.

Mike turned, "Sir, the Astro Rangers are requesting permission to teleport to the surface and consult with the Galaxy Rangers."

"Permission granted," Stanton replied.

"What coordinates should I give them?" Mike asked.

"Send them to the Stone," Stanton said, "I am sure that the Rangers will meet them there."

Mike nodded, as he turned, he saw Kai leaving the room. The other Ranger's shift had just ended before Andros had contacted them, and he knew that Kai would let Leo know. "Ranger Andros," Mike said, turning back to the comm., "You are welcome on Mirinoi; we will be sending the coordinates as requested. The Galaxy Rangers will meet you there." He nodded to one of the comm. officers, who sent the message.

"Thank you," Andros replied and the connection terminated.

"What would the Astros want with the Galaxy Rangers?" One of the comm. officers asked.

"Let us all hope that it is nothing truly serious," Mike replied, before walking away. Inside, the self same question burned.

Andros and TJ were waiting when Leo arrived, at a run, at the Stone where they had placed the Quasar Sabers. "What's going on?" Leo panted.

"Well," Andros said, "we were intending to invite you out to go drinking, but since nobody's been to Mirinoi, we were unaware just how extensive your security net is."

Leo frowned, "You scared half the GSA, and had me put an all call to the team, because you wanted me to go drinking with you?"

TJ snorted, "You did that on your own, Leo. If you want, we can just tell people that we need you for a special, Reds only mission."

"What kind of mission?" Leo asked.

TJ looked at Andros, who sighed, "Well, I've been tracking down the remains of the Machine Empire; we could say they were causing trouble."

"Yes, because people would believe that," TJ replied.

"So, what are we going to do?" Leo asked, "Because, I could do with a few days off planet."

The trio contemplated the need for a story, but before a suggestion could be made, the rest of the Galaxy Rangers arrived. "What's going on?" Kai asked.

TJ grinned, "We're kidnapping Leo for a top secret mission. Or we were. We can't give details, but Leo's talents are an invaluable asset to the mission at hand. We're sorry we had to disrupt your lives."

"Should I bring my sword?" Leo asked, dryly.

"Not that sort of mission," Andros said. He nodded to Karone, "A friend of ours needs to get his mind off things. Having Leo there will help."

Karone laughed out loud, she knew why they were there. "Send me a copy and I won't tell anyone," she told them. "For a copy of TJ's, I'll even lie to Stanton."

TJ groaned, "Blackmail is so beneath you, Karone," he said.

"Maybe," Karone replied cheekily, "but it's not beneath Astronema."

"Evil, evil woman," TJ chided her, and then smirked, "Besides, Andros doesn't have a copy anymore. I had a friend with contacts make sure of it."

Karone smirked, "Who said I wanted a copy from Andros?"

"What recording?" Kendrix asked, pushing her glasses up her nose.

TJ launched forward as Karone started to answer and clamped his hand over her mouth, "It is a secret," he stated, "that is best dead and buried." He fixed dark eyes on Andros, "Right, Andros?"

Andros gave TJ a Zhane style smirk and said, "It's a record of TJ's most humiliating day. And don't worry, TJ, I have a copy not on the computer."

TJ yanked his hand away from Karone, glaring at her, and then at her brother, "Everyone is against me," he declared, stalking away and rubbing his hand on his pants.

Andros flashed Karone a grin, perhaps it was wrong of him, of them, to tease TJ about the Barak, but it was the last vestiges of a childhood stolen from them both. Karone had never even been a child, but instead had been a woman in miniature. Andros had given his heart and sole to finding her, as a civilian and a Ranger. So he teased his teammates with Karone and otherwise remained the slightly dour Red Ranger that the Universe had reviled for Zordon's death and heralded as a hero for the lives he'd saved. "So," Andros said, eyeing Leo, "Care to come along? In a few years we'll probably wind up sitting around the table at Rocky's, drinking and sharing stories and TJ will be teasing you about whatever embarrassing dirt he'll be able to get on you, me, and anyone else in a five meter radius."

Leo shrugged, "Why not? If nothing else, it'll be something different." He turned to Karone, "Tell Stanton that Andros needed my help and I'll be back when I can."

Karone nodded, at once the serious Pink Ranger who had given Leo grounding and direction and yet still the playful young adult who crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Andros. "TJ," Andros called, "let's go. I promise not to show him that recording. In fact, when you're drunk, we can burn another copy."

TJ laughed as he turned, "I'm game, let's go."

Andros sighed, shaking his head slightly TJ. He punched the buttons on his communicator and the trio of former Reds was swept away in a wash of crimson fire.

Rocky and his wife, Alia, were the adventurous sort, having survived their triplets' terrible twos; they celebrated by opening their own bar, Ranger's Haven. Now, a year after the start of that venture, the Haven was one of the more popular bars in their sector of space. Unlike Desere, which catered to everyone, Haven was intended for Rangers, a place where they could hang out together, and there were plenty of opportunities for Red initiations, amongst other things. Tonight, however, was the first anniversary of the opening of the Haven, and the free flowing alcohol, good cheer and promises of entertainment meant that more people dropped by than was usual.

Andros, TJ and Leo strolled into the Haven, and were immediately greeted by Rocky, who gave them a grin and a wave before vanishing into the back room. "Welcome to Ranger's Haven," Andros said, "that was Rocky."

"Rocky was the second Earth Red and second Earth Blue," TJ said, "and something of a mentor to me, since I was Red and Blue as well. He's a little different, but he's a good person, never doubt that his heart is in the right place."

"No," Andros said, "it's his head that's questionable."

Leo chuckled as the pair steered him to an empty table, as they took seats on the stools, a creature with six arms came up, "Dendarian Fire," TJ said, "a bottle, three glasses, and a plate of nachos."

The server nodded and headed towards the bar. Andros eyed TJ, "Nachos?"

"Hey, I'm never one to turn down good food," TJ replied, "and Rocky got his mother to part with some of her secret recipes. He told me that he didn't want people to be afraid to eat the food here, like they are at other places."

"Good point," Andros said and turned to Leo, "never order food at Desere. Drinks are good; food is bad; unless you happen to enjoy the refresher and med bay that much."

Leo snorted, "Not particularly," he replied as the drinks arrived, and TJ's nachos.

Andros poured out three glasses of amber colored liquid, "Be careful," he warned Leo, "if you've never had this, you could get burned."

Leo took a swallow, and coughed, it was like someone had lit a fire that ran all the way to his belly, where it smoldered. "Wow," he managed finally.

"I like him," a stranger commented from behind Leo, "can I keep him?"

"Jason!" TJ said, grinning, "Grab a chair."

Leo turned to look at the man that TJ and Andros had both told him about, and found that in person, Jason Lee Scott was intimidating as Scorpius had been, but in a good way. The 5'10" marital artist had broad shoulders, dark, gleaming eyes and a buzz cut that really didn't do him justice. "Jason, this is Leo Corbett, Red Galaxy from Mirinoi. Leo, Jason Lee Scott, senior Red from Earth." Andros said.

"Nice to meet you," Jason said, spinning the fourth chair at their table back wards and sitting down.

"Same here," Leo replied, taking a second sip of the Dendarian Fire. It didn't burn as much, but the smoldering in his belly continued. "Andros and TJ have told me a few stories about you."

"Yeah, I'll bet," Jason said. "I've heard a tale or two about you." For a brief moment his eyes darkened, conveying a sense of compassion, "Especially about your Pink Ranger, Kendra or something?"

"Kendrix," Leo replied, quietly. Losing her had been hard, getting her back had been heaven, "Yeah, guess a lot of people have." He considered his glass for a moment, "Did you hear she came back?"

"What?" Jason asked.

"When we were through, when Trahkeena was…destroyed, we put the sabers back in the stone and Kendrix came back. Nobody knows how, but she's alive again." Leo said. "It was the greatest and most terrifying moment of my life, our lives. I thought me facing Trahkeena was scary, realizing that someone who had been fairly close to being my best friend had come back from the dead?" Leo tilted his head back and emptied his glass, ignoring the searing heat in his throat and belly.

As he set the glass down, Jason put his hand on Leo's shoulder, "We've all got those stories, Leo," he said quietly, "maybe not the same but I doubt that you could find anyone here who didn't. This is the one place in the universe where you can find that understanding."

Leo watched TJ fill his glass, "I'm not so self-centered as to believe no one can possibly understand," he said, then his eyes flickered to Andros, who tilted his glass in acknowledgement.

Jason sighed, "I guess my one," he said, "was back in the very beginning, when it was just Rita. She'd created the Evil Green Ranger and he'd kidnapped me. I was in the Dark Dimension all alone, my morpher was stolen, and Goldar was attacking. The floor was covered in smoke, so I got behind him and lay on the floor, and Goldar was walking around stabbing his sword into the floor. He was laughing and telling me I'd die and his sword was just rhythmically clanging off the floor." He reached over and snagged the bottle, "It's never escaped my nightmares." He lifted the bottle, tilted his head back and took a swallow.

Andros nodded, "Mine is Zhane, taking that blow for me. The way his 'no' cut off in the middle." He drained his glass.

TJ looked into his glass, "My worst is the Power Chamber. We'd always seen it as impenetrable, our sanctuary in the middle of chaos. Suddenly it wasn't, and I don't think any of us knew what to do. Alpha wanted to get us out of there, and we refused. The Chamber was the heart of everything, it was our place and we weren't going to just abandon it. When they were ramming the door, that's my nightmare, hearing that banging, like some giant wanted to come inside."

Leo sighed, "I have so many, I can't choose the worst. Mike…falling, Magna Defender giving his life for the colony, Kendrix, Mike sacrificing the Defender powers to help us get out of the Lost Galaxy…destroying Trahkeena. God, the look in her eyes when she realized…knowing that I would kill myself for people, half of whom I didn't know, that I was leaving my team, my brother alone. Even the good, it doesn't balance."

The four were quiet, thinking about their Ranger careers, "Hey now, this is a party!" Rocky said, appearing between Jason and Leo. His smile faded, "What's going on, Jase?"

Jason looked up, "Hi Rocky, this is Leo, Red Galaxy."

"Kai's teammate?" Rocky asked, eyeing him.

"Yes," Leo said, looking right back at the other Ranger.

"So, what's going on? I thought that you were initiating him or something?" Rocky said.

"Or something," Leo replied, downing another glass. "Jason got me thinking about Kendrix and all of a sudden we're talking about our worst nightmare. Sorry about that."

"It happens," Rocky said, "that's what the alcohol is for." His face became stern for a moment, "It's also why initiations should be as soon as a Ranger gets a morpher, so he doesn't have bad memories to get in the way of having fun." He snagged a chair from a near by table and settled down, backwards like Jason. "I have two, actually, the Dimension of Despair and when the Command Center was destroyed." He shrugged, "But those aren't stories for today, or everyone will remember this as the day everyone cried. So, Andros, did you hear what Kauri got up to?"

Leo sat back, sipping his fourth glass of Dendarian Fire and watched as the Red/Blue Ranger turned Bartender led his friends away from their depression and into laughter with stories from running his bar, and his three boys.

Karone cornered Andros on the Megaship, "Hand it over," she said, holding out her hand.

"Pushy," Andros said, he took a box from under the console, "Make sure Kai sees Leo's tape. Leo doesn't remember anything, blame Dendarian Fire. Don't let TJ know I gave you a copy of the rescue."

"Got it," Karone said, she kissed her brother's cheek, "you're the best. Do me a favor?"

"Yeah?" Andros asked.

"Tell Zhane that next time there's a family reunion he damn well better be there, ok?" Karone replied.

"Sure," Andros replied.

"DECA, one to teleport," Karone called, and vanished in her signature pink/purple sparkles.

Kai and Damon were waiting, "Did you get it?" Kai asked.

Karone grinned, "Both of them," she replied, "We're watching Leo's first." She put the data card into the reader as Kai and Damon took seats, then she settled on the floor.

The screen lit up and then focused on a tall Hispanic man, "That's Rocky DeSantos," Kai said, "TJ told me he runs the bar they went to."

"Attention, all right, thank you Klectak for that stirring rendition of something I won't even try to pronounce," Rocky said, then consulting his list he said, "Next we have Leo Corbett, Red Galaxy Ranger!"

Leo, clearly drunk, stumbled into the screen and took the mike as haunting music filled the room. "Please tell me," Damon said, "that he is not going to sing…"

"This is for Kai, my blue ranger, my friend, my…" Leo trailed off, and then began to sing, in a surprisingly good tenor, "Every night in my dreams, I see you…"

Damon shook his head while Kai groaned and buried his face in a pillow, Karone glanced at them and subtly raised the sound as the door swung open. "WHAT THE HELL? Oh my head…" Leo stood in the door, hands over his ears, head bowed, looking utterly miserable.

Damon lost it as Leo-on-tape went for the high notes, and stopped a third of the way there, on a note nobody had ever heard before. "Rule number 99,897," Mike said from behind Leo, looking sadistically amused as the abused Red whimpered, "Leo, singing and alcohol are not favorable to the ears."

"Well, it is kind of sweet," Kai said, giving Leo a smile.

Leo pressed his hands harder to his hears and wished he could die. Projectile vomiting all over Damon when Mike pushed him into the room was almost as good.


	7. Tournament or Field Day?

Disclaimer: Don't own them...

A/N: Gah, this chapter is, well, terrible...it kept fighting me, and I don't know j/s about the oc in this one so he was hard to portray. Like I said, not happy with it...but then I don't know much about Carter either, LS wasn't my favorite season. Andros and TJ are wildly ooc in this, but I think I explained why...if the explanation didn't make sense, PM me and I'll see if I can explain the method of my madness, 'kay?

* * *

Carter Grayson had expected many things when Commander Mitchell had asked him to come in on a day the other Rangers had off. Arriving at the Commander's office, Carter had not expected to find two of the (in)famous Astro Rangers waiting instead of Mitchell. "Carter Grayson?" Andros asked.

"Y-yes?" Carter asked, and swallowed.

"I'm Andros, this is TJ," Andros said with a slight smile, "We asked Mitchell if we could speak with you."

"Um, yeah, sure, what about?" Carter asked, looking between the two.

"We don't bite," TJ said, "sit down, relax." He watched Carter for a moment, "Thing is, we need a favor, see, there's a bit of a tournament going on, on Eltare, and one of the other Reds got tricked into making a very stupid bet. To settle it, Jay was going to compete, but the rules have us in a bind. See, Jay's senior red on Earth, and he can't compete. T-the others can't compete because they've been two colors."

"Or more," muttered Andros.

"Leo can't because he's the Mirinoi senior and never actually fought on Earth. I can't, because I'm a qualified space ranger now," this elicited a sly look to Andros, who shook his head, but TJ forged on easily, "so all we have left, is you. You are the Rookie, which is preferred, you've only held red, and you are a planetary Earth ranger. If you don't want to, you don't have to. I'm sure I can find someone to mind wipe the images of Jay's forfeit from my mind."

"Nobody else can do this?" Carter asked, quietly.

"No, see, if it had been any other Earth Ranger, it wouldn't be a problem, but it's some obscure law or tradition that if a Senior Ranger makes a bet, only a Ranger of that color can honor it. Jay, William, the first Rangers? They're Senior Earth by default, save one, and that's his own fault." TJ said.

"Point in fact," Andros said, "according to the Tradition, that makes Joel Senior Green, because the others have all altered color and Carlos is now Senior Space Black."

"Does that mean Joel ranks Carter?" TJ asked, turning to Andros, "because I've never heard of that before."

"No," Andros shook his head, "Carter's Red, as Joel's team leader, he has Rank, but in a Ranger Ceremony it would put Joel and Carter side by side to indicate their dual Ranks."

"What?" Carter interjected.

"Protocol," TJ said, shrugging, "don't worry about it, I think the first collective vote the Seniors held was to toss that out the window where Earth Rangers were concerned. With us Senior Space Rangers repping for Earth, you won't have to attend a Ranger Ceremony or Council unless we decide to see if your brains will actually melt."

"They aren't that bad," Andros countered.

"Only you, Andros," TJ shook his head, "so, Carter, want to get off this mudball for a few days? See Eltare, get drunk, sleep with a nine legged Arthorian?"

"A what?" Carter asked.

"TJ, Leo isn't here, you can't make a crack if the subject isn't here to object," Andros chided, "Don't mind him, his boyfriend's sleeping with two chicks."

"Dammit, Andros, Carlos isn't my boyfriend!" TJ snapped, "And he's not sleeping with two chicks, his _girlfriend_ has a _girlfriend_ on the side."

"My point," Andros said and actually grinned as TJ snarled loudly.

"I think I might pass," Carter said faintly.

"Aw, c'mon," TJ said, "you have to go…Earth's never competed, but other Humans have, and they never do good. You have to prove that an Earth-born Human is better!"

"Is that how they talked you into it?" Andros asked.

"No," TJ said, "they just told me I had to. Please Carter…Jay saved this planet so you could have that morpher, here's your chance to pay him back!"

Carter considered it, and nodded, "What if Vypra and the others attack?"

"Carlos, Cassie and Ashley have to consult with Mitchell and Ms. Fairweather on something to do with the Ranger Power," Andros said, "if something comes up, they'll pitch in."

Carter sighed, "You thought of everything, didn't you?"

"Yup," TJ said.

"Then I'm in," Carter said, "Can't have people thinking Earth-born Humans are losers."

"Great, go pack a bag for five days, then pack a second one for five days," Andros ordered. "Make sure you pack at least four uniforms. And an extra ten sets of underwear. And something you can fight in."

"And something to pick up girls in," TJ added.

"All right," Carter said, laughing, "I'm going. Meet back here?"

"The corridor outside, so Mitchell can have his office back," Andros replied.

"Gotcha," Carter said as the door opened.

His trip down the hall was followed by: "AND DON'T FORGET YOUR TOOTHBRUSH!"

* * *

Jason regarded the sight of Eltare with a smile, "Don't worry, Carter," he heard Andros say, "you'll do fine. I mean, you're doing great as a Ranger."

"Some of the old farts will want to haze you, but you can kick their ass, no problem." TJ added.

"Hey," Jason said, turning back to the others, "stop telling him to act like a space ranger. Carter, don't listen to them. They're spacers; that means they're crazy. All you have to worry about is not getting killed, ok?"

"Ok," Carter replied.

"Now then, we're here, Andros, where are we parking?"

Andros sighed, "Kerova compound. DECA can take us in."

Jason eyed his fellow Red, "You do know that your computer's name is actually TARAS right?"

"He forgets," TJ said, "and TARAS answers to DECA anyways."

"Your computer has an identity crisis," Jason muttered.

"Everyone on this ship has an identity crisis," Carter muttered, watching the planet before them grow bigger as they aimed for the surface. Jason couldn't blame him, really, Andros and TJ had been indulging in their 'alter' personas as insane people and telling Carter many strange and unusual things while Jason provided the voice of calm reason, telling Carter to ignore the two idiots.

Jason turned back to the forward screens as Andros and TJ began an argument over who they knew who could be classified as an 'old fart'. He sighed, because he missed going places with Tommy, at least then, he'd been assured of a good conversation. Andros was either dour and brooding or completely insane (of course, he could have just been insane and only sometimes kept his mouth shut) while TJ had gone through a series of personalities before finding the one that annoyed Jason the most and preceded to use it whenever Jason was around. And as the Megaship began its final approach and the dumb-arse duo began to freak out like they were crashing, Jason swore that next time he'd just take the _Dragon_ and go alone.

* * *

Carter regarded the strange Red Ranger, Kresent, as Andros and TJ took off to talk to someone. Kresent sighed, "Sorry about them," he said, jerking his head at the two Astros Rangers, "they're normally not that bad."

"Really?" Carter asked.

"TJ has a grudge against Jason over his initiation and Andros is his comrade and has taken up his grudge. Since they know that their constant, idiotic bickering and stupid commentary annoys Jason, and everyone else, they often play it up. In truth, they are both good Rangers and even better people."

"What did Jason do?" Carter asked.

"TJ claims that Jason set him up, by giving him an easy initiation with a humiliating twist. Jason claims that he didn't do it. Trebon and Tommy, being the two Rangers closest to Jason, also parrot Jason's claim." Kresent said, "I was a witness to the initiation, and while I would say that Jason's innocence was fact, I have heard stories from my predecessor, and I have seen Jason manipulate people in bold ways that most would not say were manipulation. There fore, I have no opinion. As I have stated this fact to both parties in this dispute, I am considered neutral. Although, I think that TJ and Andros have a new ally."

"So, where do I fit into all this, 'cause if that's the norm for those two, I don't want to spend anymore time with them and Jason's like a rock, a karmic rock, at that." Carter asked, wondering why he was even wondering.

"Neutral," Kresent said, "like me. It's why Jason ran off with Trebon five seconds after you arrived and why Andros and TJ stuck around long enough to find me. They both think that I will persuade you to their side of this argument while I assist you with the tournament. However, I have no intention of doing so."

Carter sighed, "Great, so, tell me about this tournament I've been pressured into joining?"

"They told you nothing?"

"Well, Andros told me to watch out for the mutant Herpatiods and TJ told me that the slime wouldn't be poisonous unless mixed with Dendarian Fire…" Carter shrugged, "Jason kept telling me not to listen to them because they're crazy, in fact, and that's almost all that he said to me."

Kresent sighed, "Come with me, I'll show you where we will prepare, and I'll see what I can explain. Although, remember about the slime, it could save your life."

"Great," Carter replied, his visions of a medieval tournament fading into something akin to one of his Church's 'Youth Day' events, including the five gallon trash cans of 'mashed potatoes' that smelled and stuck to everything.

Kresent let Carter to a simple, three story building, "Show your morpher," he said, lifting his hand so that the device was clear.

Carter lifted his as well, and the door swung up with a double beep. "Wow," he said.

Kresent smiled, "Ranger lock, every building has them, by law. When there's a big Ranger thing going on, certain buildings are emptied and their normal locks are disabled so that Rangers can have privacy."

"Very nice," Carter said as they entered a well appointed foyer, "what is this place?"

"It's actually a, well; I believe the word you would use is Hotel." Kresent replied, "The government gives them a tax break for doing this and for one year they can share the story of having Rangers staying in the rooms during this tournament. It gives them a boost in business."

"Nice deal," Carter said as they approached the elevators.

"The lifts," Kresent said, as they stepped on board, "the Earth's section is on the third level, with Mirinoi and Space. Since Leo and his team have opted not to come, those rooms are empty, but I believe that it's only TJ and Andros in the Space suite, but Zhane might come. Phantom does not enjoy the tournament, so he will not be attending. SPD is also on the third level; feel free to ignore them as much as possible. They are a minor group, police more than Rangers." There was a soft ding and the doors slid open. "This way," Kresent said and led Carter to a set of double doors. "Place your morpher before the scanner, so that it may know your signature," Kresent instructed, indicating the scanner.

Carter held his arm up to the scanner, there were a few beeps, then the doors slid back to reveal a rather spacious suite. "Wow," Carter said, looking around, "Who all is here?"

"Jason, although he may use his own quarters at the Ranger Compound, Rocky, his wife Alia and their four children, and Rocky's friend Adam, one of the Black Rangers, and Tanya, a Yellow Ranger." Kresent said.

Right on cue, one of the inner doors opened and a slender, rather lovely woman in yellow came out holding hands with a black clad man who was looking at her with an expression of tenderness and love that made Carter blink. The lady looked at them and paused, "Um, hello," she said.

"Hi," Carter replied.

"Kresent," the man said.

"Adam," Kresent said, "I was delegated to show Carter here to the Earth suite. Carter this is Adam, Earth Black and Green, as well as Tanya, Earth Yellow. This is Carter, Earth Red."

"You're the Rookie, right? Light beams or something like that," Adam said.

"Yes," Carter said, "and it's Lightspeed Rescue."

"Right, sorry," Adam replied, "Carlos was telling me about your team, and he couldn't remember the name because he was looking forward to talking with your green ranger."

Carter shrugged, "I'm not mad."

Tanya grinned, "You've not been instructed, huh? Green Rangers have two styles, there's the 'Walking Trouble Magnet' and then there's 'Deer Shy'. The Trouble ones have memories better fitting a goldfish, while the Shy ones are highly intelligent."

"Carlos is known for being better suited to Green," Adam said, "so we tend to think of him as a Green."

"Ah," Carter said, "I would say that Joel, Lightspeed Green, was a trouble magnet, given his rather unique ability." He sighed, "I've never met another person who could walk around with his foot permanently stuck to his mouth and his head so perilously close to his rear end."

"Excuse me," Kresent said, "but Carter is competing in the tournament tomorrow and must select his events."

"Oh, poor you," Tanya said, "I take it that you're settling Jason's Bet?"

"Yes ma'am," Carter replied, "that and I always wondered what life on other planets was like."

"Well, don't let us keep you," Adam said, "come on, Tanya. Soryn and Jaz promised us a tour of the Hall, and I'd hate to be late."

"Yes dear," Tanya said impishly, letting her boyfriend lead her from the suite.

"Select my events?" Carter asked.

"Yes," Kresent said, "each participant most compete in two events to qualify for the tournament's finale. Although the events are meant to be light hearted and play to the non-Ranger audience, the finale is a series of demonstrations highlighting the skills of each color. The four highest scoring Rangers in each color participate in double elimination matches. Then the winners of each color receive a trophy and a prize, usually something that will be an asset to the team as a whole. The winners then team up to fight the second place rangers, the winners of that team up also receive a prize."

"So, what are the events?" Carter asked.

Kresent produced a reader and gestured, "Let's sit, then, and run over this."

"Ok," Carter replied.

They took seats on a set of chairs to one side of the room, "The first event is to wrestle an Ignorian, and points are awarded for style and time."

"What's an Ignorian?" Carter asked.

"Six armed beast, not very intelligent, but strong."

"Let's not do that," Carter said, looking sick.

"All right, then we have…hmmm, capture an Asadian."

"What's an Asadian?"

"Mud-creature with no limbs, about the length of your arm and about as thick; non-poisonous, but can bite, moves faster than most think."

"Maybe, what's next?"

"A race, on…Earth horses. Twice around a small track, first over the finish line gets fifty points, twenty five for second, ten for third."

"I can do that, I've ridden before."

"All right, then we have the obstacle course. Jump, climb, swim, and race over a series of objects, points awarded by time and style."

"I can do that," Carter replied. "How do I do this? I know I can ride, and I'm sure I can do well on the course, but with the capture thing as a back up."

Kresent nodded, "I'll just send that in. All you have to do is show up tomorrow in uniform for the opening ceremony."

"Yeah, about that," Carter said, "Andros and TJ wouldn't listen, but the closest thing I have to a uniform is this jacket. Although Lightspeed is a military operation, we Rangers aren't required to wear a military inspired uniform."

"Then wear your jacket and whatever you feel comfortable in. Jason and the others will show you where to be." Kresent replied. "Nobody really expects the Earth Rangers to show up as a cohesive unit."

* * *

Carter regarded the obstacle course and couldn't help but feel disappointed, after his race had gone so well, to have come out so dismally in the course. He'd finished, but without the points he'd need to make it to the finals of the tournament. Add to that him being bloody, bruised and battered by the obstacles he'd just surmounted and he was just about ready to quietly go home and forget this week. "Hey, Rookie!" Jason said as he strolled over with a grin, "You did good."

"Yeah, right," Carter said, eyeing his hand and the brown…_gunk_ that decorated it. "I didn't get the points."

"You did better than anyone expected," Rocky said with a grin, "do you realize how much money we've picked up? Carter, you did better than even Jason boasted. Only the Centennials make the finals anyways and that's because they've got years of experience against us mayflies."

Adam nodded, "He's right, a bit confused, but right. Now then, why don't you go shower because I think these two have some vague idea involving you and enough alcohol for a killer whale."

Carter nodded and started for the stairs off the back of the platform. He nearly stumbled when Rocky said, "Why would I waste alcohol on an orca?"

* * *

Carter dropped his bags on the floor and threw himself into his bunk with a groan. He hurt everywhere, not just from that thrice-cursed tournament, but from the brawl in that bar the other two reds had dragged him off to. He put his arm over his face, covering his eyes and sighed. As sleep began to bring his body down, the door slid open, "Carter? Are you here?"

Carter lifted his arm and looked at Dana, "I'm here," he said, yawning, "is something wrong?"

"No, I was just wondering why Joel and I got these tapes. They're from a Jason Lee Scott."

"Oh God," Carter surged up, rapped his head on the upper bunk and rolled off the bed, "Please tell me you didn't watch that? Please tell me it hasn't been seen?"

"I think Joel is watching his right now." Dana replied, "Why, what's wrong?"

"If I want any self-respect left, I have got to stop him," Carter leaped to his feet, blew past Dana and headed for the rec. room just as laughter began to emerge.


	8. Traditional Insanity Earth Style

Disclaimer: Do I look like a mouse?

A/N: I know, I said I was taking a break, but they twisted my arm, I even have bruises! Ok, the bruises came from this guy's seven different bags of dogfood and a book case, but still...I'm even going to break my self imposed rule...I'm posting two stories without finishing the chapter that follows them. I can't short cut the Ninja Storm parts, but I don't want to have Cole's story languish on my hard drive while I coax a little more of Trini's story out. Anyway, here is Eric and Wes's initiation, together, because, in a weird way, they are each other's compliment. Wes to reprisent the passionat, caring side of Reds and Eric for the stern warriors and leaders.

* * *

Eric suppressed his annoyance as someone knocked on his door, he hated people who did door to door sales, but he knew he should at least open the door. He put his book on the couch and strode to the door, "Can I help you?" He asked, glaring at the man standing in the door.

"My name is TJ Johnson," the man said, "You probably know me as the Blue Astro Ranger."

"Yeah?" Eric asked, "What do you want?"

"Well, may I come in? I'd rather not discuss sensitive Ranger information where anyone could overhear." TJ replied.

"I guess," Eric said, stepping out of the door, "come on in."

TJ stepped inside with a grin, "Thank you. Sorry to barge in on you, but we didn't want to see you head for the hills."

"Why would I do that?" Eric asked, watching TJ warily as he shut the door.

"Well," TJ said, "We kind of need you to go off-planet with us for a week."

"We? Is there an invisible person in here or does being a Ranger for years just give you multiple personalities?" Eric asked.

"Neither," TJ replied, "'we' refers in part to the Earth Rangers and in part to the Astros." At Eric's rising eyebrow, he sighed, "I was, well, I was volunteered to come talk to you by virtue of oversleeping because _somebody_ thought it would be funny to have DECA not wake me up, and I said I'd do it before I even knew what I was doing. You have a bit of a reputation for liking blunt honesty, so I've laid out why it's me here and not someone more…diplomatic."

"So, what do you need me for?" Eric asked, suppressing his instinct to just throw the other Ranger out of his house.

"Well, we were going to initiate Wes into the role of Red Ranger by kidnapping him, embarrassing him and getting him drunk; however, it was pointed out to us by some of the off planet rangers that you also qualified as a Red, but we didn't think you'd go for utter humiliation, so we had a better idea. Well, Jason thought of it, and Andros seconded, so the rest of us just had to agree." TJ said, he held up his hand, "I'm not babbling, Eric, I'm giving you the background on why you. Anyways, the annual Ranger Conference is coming up and we've found our Earth delegation to be less than satisfactory. See, normally Jason would go because he actually likes visiting other planets, but his dad is very sick and he's not going to leave. When Jason can't go, Tommy goes, but Tommy is, we think, in Australia, or he could be in China, we're just not sure. Rocky is going with Alia, but he's more an Aura ally than an Earth Red now. I can't rep for Earth because I'm an Astro, and Carter has point blank refused to step foot off Earth since his own initiation: Something about the unnatural tastes of space rangers or something. Well, that got us thinking about two Red Rangers who need to do some proving, and who need to be seen by the galaxy at large. So, you're going to the Ranger Conference."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Eric asked.

"Well, you get a say in what you wear," TJ replied, "but that's pretty much it. I mean, unless you want us to kidnap you and get you drunk and humiliate you accidentally on purpose."

"'Accidentally on purpose?'" Quoted Eric, crossing his arms and looking amused.

TJ sighed dramatically, "It's a personal trauma caused by Jason. One which he denies utterly. You're best served by coming quietly. The conference is fairly standard. The Centennials will open with due ceremony and speeches, we'll be graced with the newest set of Rookies, and all you'd have to do is bow to the crowd and look dangerously cautious. Then they leave all us youngsters alone to catch up on the gossip. After a while we all go home, there's actually very little alcohol involved, although there is the rather annoying habit of some of the sophomore Rangers to play pranks on the veterans and Seniors; of course some of the Rookies get hazed, but that's only if they won't admit to their sense of the ridiculous."

Eric frowned, "I have a lot to do, TJ," the name, initials, whatever, stuck in his throat for a moment before he continued; "gallivanting across the galaxy isn't a part of that."

TJ sighed, "I'm sorry, Eric," he said, raising what Eric belatedly recognized as a morpher, to his mouth and stated, "DECA, let's go." Before Eric could react, crimson fire insured he couldn't object.

* * *

Carter leaned back against the table in the clock tower and sighed, "Wes," he said, catching the entering Red Ranger's attention instantly.

"Carter? What's up?" Wes asked.

Carter smiled, "No emergencies today," he said, "I just came to ask a favor."

"Yeah, what do you need?" Wes asked as Jen and the rest of his team came in. They came over to sit down at the table while Carter organized his thoughts and arguments.

"The Ranger Conference is coming up," Carter replied, and saw recognition in Jen's eyes, and Trip's, but not the other two. "It's an annual meeting of Rangers where Rookies get introduced and people get to chat. Usually one of the older Rangers, particularly the Senior Red, Jason, goes, but this year we've run into a problem."

"What sort of problem?" Jen asked.

"Well, Jason usually leads the delegation as I said; he enjoys space travel, although he will always live on Earth. He won't be going this year because his dad is ill and he doesn't want to leave him. In Jason's place, normally, would be Tommy, but Tommy's off in India, or maybe Africa, nobody knows exactly, and we can't get in touch. Besides, we're not sure we want his boss to get a hint of anything about Tommy's Ranger status. Last I heard Rocky will be there, with his wife, but Rocky isn't as, well, aware of Earth's issues as he used to be. He doesn't even live on Earth anymore. I'm not going, I went off planet once, and I refuse to go again. I mean, going into space is great and seeing the various cultures was wonderful, but I have too much to do on Earth to get lost in space." Carter replied, "So we want you to come go, Wes, as leader. As I speak, TJ, the Senior Space Blue, and former Earth Red, is kidnapping Eric for his initiation."

"His what?" Wes asked.

"Eric's a Red, same as you, and it's been decided that he needs to prove himself. We know he can handle the deadly dull start to things, that's a couple of hours of speeches and ceremonies, but then all hell breaks loose. As Jason put it, we need to know that Eric can take a joke, or if he can even unbend enough to join in something stupid, like a food fight, or if that stick up his butt saps all of his amusement out of his body on a regular occasion."

"How come I never…" Wes trailed off.

"Eric's going to be trapped in a food fight which Rocky and Alia will claim he started," Carter said, "don't tell him that though, it's his test. Yours is to see if you can make it through the opening of the conference without managing to annoy, offend or permanently damage anyone."

"I'm not that bad," Wes objected.

"I know that, but Jason doesn't," Carter replied. "It's Jason's job as Senior Red to see that you prove yourself. At least you aren't being convinced to inter a Rangers-only tournament meant for the entertainment of civilians that you don't have a chance of a snowball in hell of winning, and there is very little chance that you'll wind up naked or singing karaoke while drunk. No alcohol is permitted at the conference." Carter said with a faint tinge of bitterness in his voice.

"I'll do it," Wes said, "It might even be fun."

Jen laughed, "You are an eternal optimist, Wes. Trust me; it won't be as much fun as you think."

Wes grinned, "Seeing Eric covered in food will be enough to get me through the boring parts."

"You'll even get pictures if you want," Carter replied. "All of these things get recorded and shared with teammates." He reached into his jacket and pulled out a disk, "Speaking of which, I'm supposed to give this to you guys," he handed it to Jen. "Feel free to watch it and take it back to the future; just don't let TJ know you have it."

"Why?" Lucas asked.

"It's TJ's initiation, and it's hilarious to everyone but TJ. He tends to destroy any copy he gets his hands on, so it's sort of an intergalactic mission to make sure everybody sees it. Well, every Ranger sees it, that is." Carter replied with a conspiratorial grin, "Watch it; just don't drink anything while you do. Cleaning the screen after a large group has spit/snorted liquid all over it is not fun."

They all laughed at that as Jen slipped the disk into her own jacket, "We'll be watching that," Trip said.

"We'll wait until Wes gets home," Jen replied.

"Yeah, when do we leave and what do I need to pack?" Wes asked.

"Nothing and now," Carter replied, lifting his morpher up and opening a channel to Andros's ship, "TESRA, Wes is ready to go."

Red sparkles obscured Wes's vision, and then cleared. He was on a ship's bridge, and the lack of warning meant that the sitting Ranger fell three feet on arrival and crashed on the decking. The noise was enough to bring attention to him from everyone. "Wes?" Eric said, "They got you to."

"Yes," Wes said, picking himself up, "that was a dirty trick of his." He looked around the bridge, and found many unfamiliar faces, and a few that were but which he couldn't place.

"Wes Collins?" One man asked, he had brown hair with blonde streaks and wore a uniform with a red shirt.

"That's me," Wes said.

"I'm Andros, the Red Astro Ranger, welcome aboard the Astro Megaship Mark II." Andros said, offering his hand.

"Uh, Wes Collins, Red Time Force, good to be here," Wes said, shaking his hand.

"Let me introduce you to everyone," Andros said, "over here in uniform are TJ, Blue Astro," the dark skinned man nodded, "Carlos, Black Astro," the black clad man tossed him a two fingered salute, "Cassie, Pink Astro," the Asian girl nodded, "and finally Ashley, Yellow Astro." The brunette waved with a cheerful grin that put Wes in mind of Katie and her eternal cheerfulness.

"Also joining us today are Adam Park, former Black and former Green, with his wife, Tanya, former Yellow," The couple smiled from their spot, Adam in a chair, Tanya in his lap. "Zack Taylor, former Black," the man was bouncing in place, like he was much younger than he really was, or just the recipient of way too much sugar. "Kelsey Winslow, Lightspeed Yellow."

"Hey Wes," Kelsey said cheerfully.

"Hi Kelsey, how's it going?" Wes replied.

"Great, this is so exciting!" Kelsey said.

"And last, but certainly not least, my sister Karone, former Galaxy Pink." Andros finished, with a special smile for his baby sister.

Karone wrinkled her nose at Andros. "I would be traveling with the other Galaxy Rangers, but I had to go to KO-35 before this whole thing started."

"Everyone, Wes Collins and Eric Myers," Andros finished. "Now if everyone but the Astros would kindly remove themselves from my bridge we can get going."

"I'll show Wes and Eric to their quarters," Adam offered as he and Tanya stood.

"Thank you," Andros replied absently.

The Earth Rangers filed off the Bridge, some into the lift and others into the hall, Adam beckoned Wes and Eric onto the lift. Once the doors shut, he relaxed, "Sorry about Carter and TJ," he said, "even though he's a Blue, TJ can be such a Red when he wants to be."

"You mean the part where he kidnapped me?" Eric asked.

"Yes," Adam said. "I don't know what Carter's problem is, unless he's still mad about that tournament last year…"

"The one he was talked into without being told he couldn't win?" Wes asked.

"How did you know that?" Adam asked.

"Carter didn't exactly give me the fine print, but he wasn't subtle with his feelings over it," Wes replied.

"Wes, you have the sensitivity of an ameba," Eric said bluntly, "you won't know emotions if they hit you in the face."

"Back in school, I did," Wes admitted, "and maybe back before I got this morpher. It's changing me, and not in a bad way. I'm trying not to be the clueless idiot I like to portray; it gives me an advantage against Ransik."

"Excuse me," Adam interrupted smoothly, the pair looked at him, "this way, please." He led them off the lift neither had noticed stopped. "Now, due to limited space on the Megaship, we're bunking two to a room for the most part. TJ and Kelsey have their own rooms, TJ because we're picking up someone from Aquitar and Kelsey because Ashley and Andros share a room and that leaves us with an odd number of women. This will be your room," he stopped before Random Door Number Four and palmed it open, "I'll leave you to fight out the sleeping arrangements. If you manage not to kill each other, just follow this corridor all the way down to where you hear laughter and you'll find us." He turned and strode off.

Wes stepped into the room and looked around, followed by Eric. "Well," Wes said, "if you promise not to strangle me in my sleep, I'll let you pick your bunk."

* * *

Wes desperately wanted to yawn, but knew he couldn't. He stood with a group of other Rangers on a platform, morphed but with his helmet tucked under his arm. The Elder Ranger, Jabberwocky or something, had been speaking about the honor that he and the other Rookies were receiving by taking up their morphers and fighting. After he was done, they would be required to speak a bit about why they had chosen to fight. Wes looked over at Eric, but his teammate was standing at perfect attention, eyes fixed in the distance, a stance that he had yet to relax out of. It made Wes repeat a private vow to never, ever, go into military service. He didn't want to know what had happened to give Eric that degree of discipline.

Finally, Jabberwocky seemed to wind down, "First, we will have our brothers from Earth speak to us," he said, and Wes's attention was firmly fixed on the man now, "Wesley Collins, Red Time Force Ranger, please step forward."

Wes swallowed softly and stepped up to the microphone and took a deep breath, "Thank you," he said, nodding politely. "Before I became a Ranger, I had two goals in my life; the first being to escape my father's chosen life for me as his successor. The other being to find a job that actually had meaning, both for me, and for others. Then one day, I met this girl, she was pretty, but dressed in clothes I'd never seen in my life. I rescued her from these robots that I later learned where called cyclobots, and in turn I heard a story that convinced me that she was crazy. At least, until I met Ransik and took the morpher she offered. It wasn't easy at first, they're from the future and have so many different concepts, and Trip's not even from Earth! However, we've learned together how to get along and accept each other. Believe me, it's an uphill road, but they're more my family than my father," he turned slightly towards Eric, "Even you, Eric," he added with a teasing grin, "every family needs the annoying brother who thinks he's too old to play with his younger sibs."

Eric actually glared at him for a brief second as the rest of the hall laughed. "I became a Ranger because a pretty girl asked me to, I stayed a Ranger because it was everything I had been looking for, without knowing it."

Applause filled the hall as Wes stepped back; glad he'd managed his speech without totally tripping over his own tongue. Someone introduced Eric, and the Silver Guardian stepped forward. He cleared his throat and spoke into the microphone easily, "Unlike Wesley, I had no ulterior motive to take the Quantum Morpher. I wanted the Power, because in some ways, I was still the boy from the wrong side of the tracks trying to make it in a prep school for people far above my family's lifestyle. Since I started using the Quantum Morpher, I've struggled to keep my distance, from the Rangers, and the Silver Guardians, to keep the wall that I'd erected as a boy. It hasn't been easy, but I've come to realize that the Power isn't meant for a person to fight alone. Rangers need their team as much as the team needs each Ranger." Like Wes, he turned to look at his teammate, "Maybe I'm not quite up to the 24/7, joined-at-the-hip life that some teams adopt, but I don't think I should have left you sixty-five million years ago either anymore."

Wes grinned, he knew what Eric was saying, and he knew his teammate had just won the crowd with that statement. "I became a Ranger because I wanted the Power to prove I was equal to others, but I've learned that I never needed it to prove myself their equal, and teammate."

Applause filled the chamber as Eric took his place beside Wes, and Wes said, "I'm glad you realize that, Eric. I know that we couldn't have done as much against Ransik without your help."

Eric didn't say anything as another Ranger began his speech.

* * *

Eric and Wes stood near the refreshment table with Zack, Adam, Tanya, and another man, Billy, who they'd collected from Aquitar. "I thought there was another Red who was supposed to be here," Wes asked.

"Yeah, Rocky," Adam said, he looked around, and then smiled, "There he is."

Rocky proved to be a man about Adam's age, with a cheerful grin, and a lovely wife. "Hi Adam," he said, grabbing the quieter Ranger into a hug.

Adam returned it, and then hugged the lady, "Alia," he said quietly.

"Adam, Tanya," Alia replied, "it's good to see you two."

"Rocky, Alia, I would like you to meet Wes, the Time Force Red Ranger, and Eric, the Quantum Red Ranger." Adam said, "Wes, Eric, this is Rocky DeSantos, former Red and Blue, and Alia, former Red Aura Ranger."

"There are a lot of retired rangers here," Eric commented as they shook hands.

"This is more for us than for you," Alia replied as Rocky went to get food and drinks. "The Conferences have been around for a long time; they started after the first Dark Rainbow War, when Rangers from different planets teamed up to drive back a group of Evil Rangers and their allies. They didn't want to return to being mostly isolated, so they started to get together every year to remember the lost and to welcome new Rangers. They've become an annual thing, for some it's the only time they'll ever meet off-planet Rangers, and for others it's an excuse to get together and gossip. Like Rocky, he doesn't live on Earth, and we're always busy with the bar anyways. Taking a few days to come here every year insures he gets to spend time with Adam, Tanya and the others. If a planet has a new set of Rangers, then two, or three, are chosen to come to the Conference if possible. I'm afraid Carter will never want to come, but his teammates will have the choice to come, as will you two. Jason has his own ship, the _Dragon_, and the Council is finishing negotiations with NASADA, amongst other agencies, to make a few more ships available for Rangers of Earth. After all, you may want to come to the bar and Jason won't always be available to take you."

"What bar?" Wes asked.

"Alia and I run an entertainment complex called El Dorado," Rocky replied, "we bought it from a friend with a great idea but bad business sense. Most of it we leave up to a management company we've hired, but we personally run the Ranger's Haven, which is available only to Rangers. The bar is a place Rangers can go to just relax and hang out; most of the time it's a happy place, but every once in a while it's miserable. A Ranger will come in with sad memories on his mind and next thing you know, everyone in the bar is talking about their worst memories. That's ok, because even I have my nightmares."

TJ and Ashley appeared in the midst of their group, armed with plates of…pie? Wes looked at them and caught the look in TJ's eyes, a devilish glint that reminded him of Carter's face when he'd explained about Eric's test. Slipping a glance at Eric, who was questioning Rocky about the bar, Wes sidled up to the pair, "Now?" He asked, eyes flicking to Eric.

"Yup," Ashley replied.

"All right," TJ said, "Eric, we need your help."

Eric turned, "What?" He asked.

"See, the Elder Rangers are gone and we need to liven things up." Ashley replied, she held out a plate, "So if you would be so kind as to throw this at the _Um'bistu_ over there in the green ship suit we would all appreciate it."

"You want me to what?" Eric demanded.

"Throw this pie at Uroro, the _Um'bistu_ in the green uniform. He's the one with six appendages and a tail." Ashley replied.

"I don't think so," Eric said.

Wes smiled, an idea coming to him, he leaned over to TJ, "Let me, and then we'll blame it all on Eric."

TJ nodded and passed him a plate while Ashley continued to argue with Eric. Wes slipped around to position himself beside Eric, so that the lie would be that much more believable, and launched the plate easily. It landed on the green clad _Um'bistu's_ head and made him squawk loudly in shock. People pointed towards their group and he turned. Wes pointed at Eric, "He did it!" He announced as loudly as he could.

Uroro, who proved to have a beak like mouth, nodded slightly and flung his own plate back, catching Eric full in the face. In moments, there was a giant food fight in progress. "Come on," Wes snatched Eric's arm and dragged him over to a table that had already been emptied, he flipped it on it's side and pulled the food off a second table behind it.

"Are you crazy?" Eric demanded as Wes hurled a handful of something.

"Look, they want to know that you can take a joke and lighten up," Wes said, "so just go with it. I know you're still a bastard with a heart of stone, but their minds will be much eased about you on the team. What if they decide to take your morpher? These guys can do that, they have that authority." He threw another slice of pie.

Eric sighed, selected a handful with a grimace and threw it, targeting Adam and catching Tanya as well. "You'll pay for this," he informed Wes.

Wes grinned, "Ah, but to get me back means that you'd have to prank me, and that means that the stick that appears to be permanently imbedded in your ass will have to be pulled out so you can move over, thus bringing about the true purpose of your initiation as a Red Ranger, brother."

"It was your initiation as well," Eric said.

"I know," Wes replied, "they wanted to see if I could be as formal as anyone else. They tend to forget the number of board meetings I've sat through, and dinners, and social gatherings. I can do it, I just don't like it."

When the Elder Rangers, who Rocky called the Centennials, returned, all of the food had been rendered inedible, and there wasn't a single person who didn't have food somewhere. When they asked for the instigator, Eric stepped forward, having gotten separated from Wes and able to question a few older Rangers. Thus, when asked to explain himself, Eric produced an undamaged pie and lobbed it at the leader with the statement, "It's fun!"

His actions were echoed by select others in the crowd, and for the first time in fifty years, the Elder Rangers were included in the activities that made the conferences worth attending.


	9. Forever Red and a Monkey

Disclaimer: I don't think so...but the dream is nice

A/N: Cole's initation is centered around Forever Red, simply because I was "forced" to watch it several times lately. Saw a deleted scene on YouTube once about the rest of the Cole/Carter scene, so I took the idea, wrote it my way and stuck it in there.

* * *

Carter opened the door to his and Dana's apartment easily, a welcoming smile on his face. As he took in the strained visage of TJ Johnson as apposed to Joel, his smile faltered, "TJ? Is something wrong? Come in, come in."

TJ managed a weary smile, "Thanks, Carter. I know I'm not one of your most favorite people in the world."

Carter stepped aside and let the other ranger into the apartment. "Hi, Joel!" Dana called from the kitchen.

"It's not Joel," Carter called back; "can you come in here, please?" Turning back to TJ, he asked, "Have you met Dana before? She was my pink ranger."

TJ shook his head as Dana appeared, "What's going on?" She asked, looking between the two.

"Dana, this is TJ, the Blue Astro and former Red Turbo Ranger," Carter replied. "TJ, my fiancé, Dana Mitchell, Pink Lightspeed Ranger."

"Pleased to meet you, Ms. Mitchell," TJ said.

"Pleasure is all mine, would you care for a drink?" Dana asked.

"No," TJ shook his head, "I came to talk to Carter. We have a problem."

A buzz from the kitchen made all three jump, "That's the roast," Dana said, "I'll go pull it out and let you two talk."

"What's happened?" Carter asked, gesturing to the couch.

TJ sat down and pressed his hands over his eyes, "A lot, too much. Did we ever tell you about Serpenterra?"

Carter frowned, "Lord Zedd's personal Zord, right?"

"Exactly," TJ said. "Well, we, the Astros, started collecting rumors about parts of the Machine Empire surviving Zordon's Wave and we've been chasing those rumors for years. We finally tracked down the leaders, and their goal is to resurrect Serpenterra and level Earth. Andros and Tommy are putting together an advanced strike force to try to stop them while everyone else with Power goes on stand-by."

"Who's the advance guard?" Carter asked.

"All the Reds," TJ replied. "In a lot of ways we're the strongest, by nature we're all going to charge into things head first. The plan is to go in, attempt to stop them, if we succeed that's the end, if we don't, we'll fall back to Earth and join our teams."

"Dana isn't going to like this," Carter muttered.

"We don't have a choice," TJ snapped.

"You don't," Dana agreed, startling them, "I don't like it, but I agree. When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow," TJ said. He sighed, "I have to go talk with Wes and Eric, so I need your help, Carter."

"Mine?"

"Yes," TJ replied, "I need you to recruit the newest Red. Cole Evans, Wild Force Red, over in Turtle Cove. Get him, tell his team to stand by and get out to Area 51 by noon." Both Reds exchange a grimace at the nickname for the nearest shuttle storage site.

"Yes sir," Carter muttered. At Dana's gentle nudge, he spoke louder "I can be in Turtle Cove in two hours, so I'll get the team together and briefed before I go."

"Right," TJ said, he stood, "thanks you two."

Carter rose, "No problem," he glanced over to find Dana picking up the telephone and gestured, "We're Rangers, TJ. This is what we do."

TJ nodded, as he opened the door, he spoke, in a soft voice, "We're stopping Serpenterra on the moon, Carter. The rest of that story is for our teams."

Carter, who had expected no less, nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Don't be late," TJ said as he vanished down the apartment complex's stairs.

Carter turned as Dana hung up the phone, "Chad and Kelsey can be here in ten, and Joel should be here now."

Right on cue, the door bell rang, Carter turned and opened the door, "Joel, good, you're here, come in."

"No," Joel said, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Get in, and we'll explain," Carter snapped. Joel actually jumped and then hurried inside. Carter smiled to himself, the 'Voice' still worked.

Joel sat down as Dana came out with a glass of tea, "Here," Dana said, "and don't annoy Carter."

Carter closed the door and took a seat, "I don't want to tell you everything, Joel, because I'd have to repeat it when Chad and Kelsey get here. I can, however, assure you of this, you won't be leaving Mariner Bay unless it's so bad that everyone's going."

"Are Wes and Eric trying to blow up the West Coast again?" Joel asked.

Carter snorted, "No," he said, "it's Saturday. That's when Wes gets up early to watch cartoons and then goes back to bed. If it were Thursday…"

The two laughed quietly, laughs that fell silent as someone knocked on the door yet again. Carter stood up and opened the door to find Kelsey, Chad and Ryan waiting. "Ryan? I thought you were in Europe," he said, stepping back.

"Zhane said I was needed here," Ryan replied, "so I came."

"Did he tell you all of it?" Carter asked.

"No." Ryan replied.

Carter nodded, accepting it as yet another Silver quirk. "Please, have a seat then." Dana came out of the kitchen to join him on their loveseat while the other three chose places. "TJ Johnson came to see me earlier," Carter said, "and there's big trouble coming."

"What kind?" Chad asked.

"Lord Zedd built himself a Zord when he was trying to conquer Earth," Carter replied, "named Serpenterra; it was left hidden on the moon after Zordon's Wave. We all know that not every speck of evil was destroyed by Zordon, and one of the remnants has found Serpenterra. The Machine Empire was a deadly foe, and the Zeo Rangers thought that when King Mondo and his minions were destroyed the rest of them Empire would follow. They didn't. What's left the Machine Empire is excavating and repairing Serpenterra as we speak, and they're planning to use it to take out Earth. Andros and Tommy are putting together a strike force to try to stop them on the Moon. I'm part of that force; those who aren't going will be put on stand-by here on Earth. What that means is that you guys are going to head straight to the Aquabase this evening and you'll stay there until we either send a success message or call you to where Serpenterra will hit first. I'll be leaving in the morning to collect another member of the force and we'll be headed to the moon shortly there after."

"Why just you?" Chad asked.

"Because Jason, as Senior Red, is THE leader of the Power Rangers, every Ranger on the planet is required to obey his commands." Carter replied, "He approved the list. I don't know the attack plans yet, but I'm sure they have a reason. Besides, if things go badly on the moon, I know that you, Chad, can lead the team as well as I have. I suggest you all get your things and get to the Base tonight."

"Not before you eat," Dana said firmly, "I didn't make dinner just to have it ignored, Carter Grayson, and I especially didn't take off from work to do it!"

Carter smiled, "Right, sorry, I'm just, tense."

"Don't worry. Now then, everyone grab a plate and eat, and then we'll get to Aquabase. That'll give me time to call Dad anyway."

* * *

Carter was rather grateful that TJ had told him where to find Cole, although he wasn't sure how the rest of the Wild Force team would react. He didn't let his uncertainty show, however, as he got out of the Rescue Rover. He adjusted his jacket and walked up to the Wild Force team. "Excuse me," he called, catching their attention, "Cole Evans?" When everyone's attention was focused, he added, "Cole Evans, Red Wild Force Ranger?"

"How do you know who I am?" The red-clad young man asked.

_I asked the tooth fairy,_ Carter thought, keeping his face straight, "I'm Carter Grayson, Lightspeed Rescue," He lifted his own morpher, "Red Lightspeed Ranger. I've been sent to recruit you for an important mission."

The Rangers regarded each other, "OK," Cole said.

"Let's go," the yellow ranger added.

"I'm sorry," Carter said, "but I've been sent for Cole alone. He's going to be part of a preliminary strike force against a dangerous enemy. I've been asked to alert you others to the possibility that we will not succeed in the mission and to request that you stand by for word from Operation Lightspeed that you are needed. The original strike can be done with a small group, but if we fail, we need everybody who ever used a morpher."

"Why Cole? He's not been a Ranger as long as any of us?" Yellow asked.

"That is the decision of the Senior Rangers," Carter replied, "and we don't have much time. Cole, if you're coming, we have to leave now."

Cole jumped and rushed forward, "Of course I'm coming," he said.

Carter took a cell phone from his pocket and held it out to the yellow ranger, "Here, if there's anything you need to know, you'll be called on this phone. I think Angela Rawlings will be the one to call; she's tech support at Lightspeed; either that or Captain Mitchell."

"Thanks," the lady said, "can I call them?"

"Number's the only one saved on the phone, but since Lightspeed's the best place to coordinate the ground teams, I'd suggest you refrain from annoying everyone." Carter turned and hurried back to the Rover and climbed in, "let's go, Rookie."

* * *

As the Megaship flew to the moon, Carter found himself cornered by Jason, "What's the deal with the Rookie?" Jason asked.

Carter shrugged, "I don't know. I hadn't met him before today."

Jason nodded, "You up for going out tonight? A friend of mine has a bar on Earth that we've promised to check out."

"What kind of drinking?" Carter asked.

"Earth drinks only, and the manager, my friend, isn't a Ranger, but he _knows_ so it's a safe place." Jason replied.

"I can," Carter replied, "as long as I can blame you on twisting my arm when Dana gets on my case."

"I thought Dana was the sweet one," Jason said.

"She is," Carter said, "except lately. She, uh, we, well…" he sighed, "Dana's pregnant, two months on. She's been having the weirdest mood swings."

Jason chuckled, "I can imagine, and congratulations. Are we going to be hearing wedding bells soon?"

"We're waiting," Carter replied, "Dana wants to not only find the perfect dress, but wants it to fit her. So, I'm going to do the romantic bit and propose soon, and we'll be married after the kid's born."

"Again, congratulations, Carter. I'm going to see if TJ knows what Cole's problem is." Jason said, clapping Carter on the shoulder.

Carter rubbed his shoulder and shook his head; the older Ranger always forgot how strong he was.

* * *

_It was over,_ that was the only thing Carter could think as he followed Jason's bike across the desert. Cole, fidgeting, was shotgun, and the others followed. "It's over," Cole said, breaking through Carter's musings, "we won."

Carter sighed, "Yes, Cole. You helped blow up Serpenterra. Now we're going to a bar and you are going to be so drunk that you'll probably wind up doing strip-karaoke or something."

"What?" Cole asked.

"Do. Not. Ask." Carter said, shuddering slightly. "At least we're on Earth, hitting Rocky's or Desere would not be a good idea."

"Where?" Cole asked.

"Rocky is the other Earth Red, except he can't morph as a Red Ranger anymore, and he doesn't live on Earth. When Jason passed the job to Rocky, they duplicated the Power Coins, but Rocky's was destroyed by Rita and Zedd when Master Vile turned back time a few years ago. Rocky can morph as Zeo Blue, but he doesn't often. He doesn't need to, not sense he got married. He runs a bar and chases his five children around, and he lets other people worry about protecting his home."

"I couldn't imagine sitting back and letting someone else do my job," Cole said.

"Yeah well, when you're Rocky's age, and you've been fighting as long as he did, you can make that choice. Between his years as an active Ranger, and his back, Rocky's earned a peaceful life." Carter replied.

"Sorry," Cole said, softly. He frowned, "You don't like Jason, do you?"

Carter shook his head, "No, it's not that. If you want to talk about the anti-Jason contingent, see TJ and Andros. I think, though, that it's more tradition than actual emotion now. Those two, ever since they became teammates, have made it their life's mission to see Jason in the loony bin. Jason tends to respond by being a rock, and ignoring them. Tommy sides with Jason, and Andros claims that there's a matter of a fight between them which lets TJ and Andros be "anti" Tommy. Leo sides with TJ and Andros because he used to be a Space Ranger before Terra Venture reached Mirinoi. Rocky takes Jason's side of thing, to keep it even. Wes, Eric and I keep the neutral line going. That's why they sent me to fetch you." He stopped talking to pull onto the expressway. "I'm willing to give you both sides of the story, as far as I know it, and you can make your own choice as to where you stand. Being neutral is pretty fun; you can play both sides against each other."

An odd noise made Carter glance over, only to find that Cole had fallen asleep. With a half-smile, Carter slumped a little and let the highway take him away.

* * *

Jason's friend, a dark haired man called Trueheart, showed the Rangers into a private room with a large table made to seat ten. There was a self service bar on one side full of drinks and glasses. Jason collected beers while Andros handed out the shot glasses and selected the alcohol. "All right," Jason said as he, Andros and TJ took seats around the table in places where they could refill everyone's glass as needed. "We are going into share some stories with our Rookie. First, however, we're going to play a little game. It's called, 'I have never…'. The way it works is like this, everybody gets a shot, and then I'm going to start. I will tell all of you something I have never done, and if you have done it, you have to take a shot. We'll go around the table at first, but we can mix it up later. Cole, I know you've never drank before, but shut up, you are a Red Ranger, now act like it!"

The Rookie, who had been quietly complaining to Carter, shut up and looked shamefaced. They poured their drinks and Jason took a deep breath, "I have never performed an embarrassing act before another _Earth_ Red Ranger."

Looking pissed, TJ, Andros, Carter, Wes and Eric all took shots.

* * *

Cole groaned as he covered his head with a pillow that smelled of sweat and vomit. Things were not looking up this morning. He was still in jail with the other Rangers, hung over now instead of drunk, and he would still have a record of public indecency and intoxication. As a familiar and most unwelcome voice filtered through to his ears, Cole wished he could die. As the words Taylor spoke came clear, he wished it would happen now.

"He did _what_ to a monkey?"

* * *

A/N2: The monkey was not hurt, or traumatized...but if you've read 'Of Love and Bunnies' by CrazyGirl47 and you know who 'Farky' is and what Connor did that had the cops after him then you'll have a vague idea of what Cole "Dr. Dolittle" Evans might have done with a monkey...and a Wal-Mart door greeter...that bicycle...ah, good times.

A/N3: I was going to post this this morning, I promise! But I was tired, so I went to bed instead. On a second note, I'm thinking of doing a series of 'out takes' and 'deleted scenes' for Red Fraternity...call it Forever Red or something, just so people can know about some of the stories people are talking about here. But I'd only start it after I got past Connor's initiation. Thoughts or ideas are welcome, but please PM any story suggestions.


	10. A Bit of Everything

Disclaimer: I don't own them and I'm broke.

A/N: Sorry, my muse went on vacation, but here's the next chapter! Oh, and I tried to explain why Jason's going to have a more periphial role at the start.

* * *

Tommy leaned back in his chair and regarded Jason over the boxes of Chinese take out, "How's your dad?" He asked, finally.

Jason sighed, "He's fading every day," Jason said, "Half the time; he doesn't recognize me any more. And it'll only get worse, Tom."

Tommy nodded, "I'm sorry." He picked up his water glass and stared into its icy depths as if searching for the right words. "At least you still see him."

Jason nodded, and a flash of anger flickered over his face, "Carrie and Nathaniel can excuse themselves all they want, but they just don't want to see him die."

"Ignore them," Tommy said, "they're doing the same thing. Punch Nate at the funeral and boycott Carrie's wedding. No, better, go, get Ranger-drunk and embarrass the hell out of her."

"Damned if I won't," Jason replied, "Dad didn't like Richard anyway. Carrie just waited until now because he can't say anything anymore." Silence fell again, then Jason sighed, "There's a new Red."

"Yeah, Shane Clarke," Tommy replied, "he's a ninja."

Jason nodded, staring at his plate, "Tom, I don't want to do this anymore."

Tommy shrugged, "You know I'm getting over the alcohol and embarrassment scene myself."

"If he can cut it," Jason replied, "Shane Clarke may just be who I'm looking for."

"What do you mean?" Tommy asked.

"Trebon passed the Senior position to Kerric last year. As the oldest _living_ Red, he's the highest ranking Ranger on the planet, but Kerric's the official representative and everything." Jason replied, "If Clarke can lead, and has the head for it, I just might name him to it."

"He's young enough to get the whole initiation part and if he's anything like Rocky, Adam and Aisha, he's mature enough." Tommy nodded.

"So, how do we torment him?" Jason asked, his earlier depression vanishing in the face of the challenge.

Tommy thought for a long moment, "Well, according to Adam, Cam says the kid has a bit of a commitment problem. Frankly, Cam isn't impressed, and Sensei Watanabi is often disappointed in Clarke. Maybe we should make it harder than usual, but still passable."

Jason nodded; his eyes scanned the kitchen and finally settled on a picture, it was him and Rocky after Rocky's initiation. "What if we took parts from all of _our_ initiations and made a quest for him; sort of a Super Crystal Rescue: we kidnap him, stick him on an alien planet and make him find something, but make it hard. Like put in obstacles to surmount, and creatures to get past: including some Barak, just for TJ. Also, let's only give him alien cuisine, so that he can prove he's brave enough to eat something he doesn't recognize."

"It's perfect," Tommy replied. "Let's get every one together, harass Carter into going and head over to Rocky's to plan it out. We can get Trebon and Kerric to help to!"

Jason put on a fake worried look, "We aren't too evil are we?"

"Nah," Tommy laughed, "we're just crazy."

RFRFRFRFRFRFRFRF

Rocky, Adam and Aisha stepped through the holographic waterfall that marked the entrance to the Wind Ninja Academy. For three years before their Ranger days, they had studied at this academy. Rocky had been brought by his father during that worthy's teacher days, Adam had practically been raised there and Aisha had been a precocious orphan who had been chosen because of her innate skill. Skill they had later learned was the gift of the Power they would one day wield. The youngest students there, the trio had become close friends and then a triad. Now, they returned to the place of many childhood adventures, and found it nothing like they'd imagine.

The land was blasted, barren and littered with the remains of battle. The trio exchanged shocked looks, they'd known it would be bad, but this was worse than they had ever dreamed. "It's like seeing the Command Center in ruins," Rocky whispered, hand reaching out for Aisha's unconsciously.

Three black streaks erupted from the heart of the devastation and surrounded them, revealing themselves to be Ninjas, an Air, Earth and Water triad, all hooded and masked. "Who are you?" The Air Ninja demanded, his eyes were glittering black coals over his mask.

"Rocky DeSantos, Earth Ninja," Rocky replied.

"Aisha Campbell, Air Ninja," Aisha said, raising her chin in challenge.

"Adam Park, Water Ninja," Adam finished, standing at ease, but ready to defend if necessary.

"Cam Watanabi sent out a distress message," Aisha continued, "we came as soon as we could."

"And you have come in good time indeed," A voice called, moments later, Cam appeared. "Rocky, Adam, Aisha, it's good to see you again."

"Right back at you," Rocky said, "your message was a trifle understated I think."

Cam nodded, "We didn't want people to panic, rush back and fall into Lothor's clutches. Come inside, he sometimes likes to fire on the grounds."

"Lead the way," Adam replied.

Can lead the Three Ninjas back to Ninja Ops with the Triad following them cautiously; they descended to the underground bunker and Rocky started laughing. "Do you guys remember this place?" He looked at his friends.

"I think I missed this one," Aisha said.

"No," Rocky replied, "Halloween, second year. There was a raid by the Thunders and we were trying to escape those two lightning throwers and we fell through the spinning wall."

"I remember," Adam said, "We got stuck until Cam found us. Aisha fell asleep though, you, Rocky, kept freaking out about ghosts."

"You never went inside," Cam said, "but I remember that."

"We were always into something back then," Rocky agreed as the door slid open.

"Wow," Aisha said, "why didn't the Command Center look like this?" She turned as she walked in, awed.

"Alien designers," Rocky replied, catching Aisha before she hit the table. "For Zordon, it was probably in style."

"Who is Zordon?" Cam asked.

"Uh," Rocky replied.

"Smooth," Adam said, bumping past Rocky.

"Welcome back, Rocky, Adam and Aisha," a familiar and welcome voice announced, "it is good to see that you are well."

The trio turned and stared as a small Zen garden approached them, with a guinea pig in the clothing of a Ninja Master inside. "Sensei?" The trio asked, startled.

"Yes," Kanoi Watanabi replied, "I am greatly changed from when you last saw me."

The trio bowed and knelt, "What happened?" Rocky asked, "Was it Lothor?"

"Yes." Kanoi replied.

"What do you know about Lothor?" The Air Ninja demanded.

"Only that he's one of the worst Warlords around," Rocky replied dryly, standing to face the Ninja, "and that his sudden advancement to Earth was against every strategy he's ever used. Lothor's one of the smarter, and thusly more dangerous, Warlords out there; he's never attacked a planet with even the merest rumor of a Ranger team. Nobody knows why he targeted Earth, although his timing is understandable. Turtle Cove is recovering from Master Org's final assault still, any other planet of a cultural level with Earth would be reeling all over the planet from such a battle." He crossed his arms, "There's only one explanation that I know of that would explain why a previously intelligent man would come here, and that's vengeance."

"How do you know this?" Kanoi asked.

Rocky glanced between Kanoi and the Air Ninja, then at his two friends, who both nodded. "Because, I am, or rather, was the Second Red Earth Ranger, serving with the Thunder and Ninja powers. I am also the Second Blue Earth Ranger, serving with the Zeo powers. After I retired, I married a Red Ranger from the planet Javor. I live there now. Not long after my marriage Alia and I purchased a small bar and we've turned it into one of the best known entertainment complexes in the local subspace, and known universally as a place where Rangers can go to drink without being set upon by civilians. I hear _everything_ that goes through my bar. If I wanted to find out, I could tell you what Lothor had for breakfast this morning."

"I am the Second Yellow Earth Ranger," Aisha said, "although I've been living in Africa since I was a teenager. I'm a research veterinarian now, working to help the animals over there."

"I," Adam said, "am the Second Black Ranger and the Second Green Ranger. I run a dojo back in Angel Grove. I've even nominated a few students to the Academy."

"You place a lot of trust in people whose faces you can't see," the Water Ninja said.

Aisha grinned, "Girl, you and your buddies have the Power. Anyone with the ability to _feel_ it knows. If I had to guess, I'd say you were Tori Hanson, Blue Wind Ranger."

The Water Ninja stiffened, then nodded, "I am," she pulled off her hood and mask, letting blond hair fall down her shoulders as she smiled.

"I'm Dustin, dude," the Earth Ninja said, revealing his dark curls and bright smile, "Nice to meet a fellow yellow."

"Nice to meet my first male yellow," Aisha replied.

"Shane Clarke," the Air Ninja said, removing his hood and mask.

Dustin's watch beeped and he looked, "Aw man, Sensei, I got to get to work."

"Go on, Dustin," Kanoi said with a nod, "we will see you tomorrow."

"I should go to," Tori said. "My mom said something about company. Coming Shane?"

"What?" Shane asked.

"Go on," Kanoi said, "training will resume tomorrow."

The three Rangers left quietly, and Rocky sighed, "Well, that went better than expected," he commented.

RFRFRFRFRFRFRFRF

Shane was confused, oh, he'd come to accept that Power Rangers were real, but to meet three who claimed to be Rangers, _and_ Ninjas, just blew his mind. So he'd gone to the meditation cliff that he'd avoided before he'd picked up the morpher, but was now finding to be his hiding spot from the world. He stared out across the ocean, ignoring the sun that was coming to shine in his eyes. A rustle behind him made Shane start, and then there was a cloth over his head and a strange, red fire. Blackness fell over his eyes and unconsciousness followed.

RFRFRFRFRFRFRFRF

Shane woke up to the sound of rushing water, he blinked and looked around. He lay on something orange that blocked his view, so he sat up, and yelled. He was floating down a river on an orange raft. The water was black with white foam. He looked beyond the water to find high, green cliffs channeled the river. He shook his head and looked forward, almost not wanting to look. The water ahead looked rough, and more rocks jutted from the surface, a rich green color that was darker than the cliffs. Shane looked around the boat and saw a rope around the edge of the raft; he grabbed it and put his head down, knowing that what ever was about to come would not be pleasant.

It wasn't.

He'd ridden white water rafts at theme parks, but that tame ride was nothing compared to the whirling hell he soon entered. Although he didn't think he'd actually hit the rocks, he was jostled around, spun and for a few terrifying seconds, floated over the water as he was swept over a mini water fall. One thing he learned, he couldn't be bounced out of the raft, there were invisible walls of force kept him in the raft, and that was the only thing good about his experience.

Just as the water began to smooth out, red fire blanked Shane's vision, and then the world went utterly still. Shane cracked his eyes open, he was lying on the ground. He jerked up right just in time to see the raft going by, spinning in the swift, but calm river not ten feet from him. "What?" Shane gasped and looked around.

This was not Earth.

Shane had been camping many times, and he knew what the forest looked like. This looked like nothing he'd ever seen before. "Greetings, Shane Clarke."

Shane spun, and gulped. A glowing, transparent man was watching him, "What?" He asked again.

The man grinned, "I am Jason Lee Scott, the Senior Earth Ranger. You are on, well, another planet. Its name doesn't matter right now, what matters is what's going on. Shane Clarke, you are the newest Red Ranger in Earth's short but illustrious history. On your shoulders rests the job of upholding our traditions and keeping Earth whole. This is a test, to prove to yourself and us that you can do this. The rules are simple; you will be given tools, one of which is a scanner. You must use those tools to cross this land to get something. It's a simple quest, but one you cannot refuse. As you might have noticed, your morpher is missing. We've hidden it away in the mountains that are three days away from here. We will provide you with nourishment on your quest, as well as shelter for the two nights you are here. That is all the help you will receive. You will face many obstacles on your quest, but once you reach your morpher, you will be brought up to our ship. Good Luck, Shane Clark, Air Ninja and Red Wind Ranger, and may the Power protect you."

The man disappeared, revealing a small, two-man tent and a box. Shane scrambled to his feet and ran over to see what he'd been given. As he regarded the contents of the box, he reflected that this would be a long journey.

RFRFRFRFRFRFRF

Shane shivered as he stared into the cave before him. This had not been a good three days. He'd had quite a few fights with strange beasts, and now he was about to plunge into a dark cavern with only the light of the scanner to guide him. "Oh no," he muttered, "This isn't at all scary. _How_ many movies involve mutilation in dark caves?"

As if in response to his voice, light came on in the cave, and Shane shook his head, magic or alien technology, it was beyond his understanding. He walked into the cave quietly, wondering if he'd meet any creatures here. He had changed from his training uniform to his shorts and shirt because of the high humidity that had greeted him this morning, the light cotton fabrics giving him more relief from the humidity than the leather had. This, he was about to learn, was a mistake.

It started with the appearance of a small, fuzzy creature with a friendly face. Shane stared at the creature, waiting. It crept up to him slowly and Shane knelt down, "Hello," he said, slipping out his hand. The creature nuzzled his palm, and then began to sniff his knee, where his shorts ended. "Sorry, boy, I've got to keep moving," Shane said after a moment of petting the soft creature. He pushed the creature away, but it wouldn't move, in fact, it pulled on his shorts. "What," Shane said, keeping his tone friendly, "are you doing, boy?" He put his hand on the creature's chest and pushed back firmly. The creature sank its teeth into his shorts and wouldn't be moved. "Well," Shane said. He cupped the creature's jaw and squeezed.

Something hit his back and side, Shane fell over and caught site of a second creature, this one latched on his shirt while he was trying to recover from the fall. "Oh hell no," Shane said, he pulled back his free leg and kicked the first one, knocking it loose then he surged to his feet, hearing/feeling his shirt rip. Before the two could get any closer, Shane made the familiar tugging and throwing gesture for his leather training uniform, "Try this on for taste," he muttered. The two creatures backed up, distaste as clear as any dog would have shown. Grinning, Shane walked past them. He kept his feet light and his senses attuned to the cave. The air currents around him were easy to be manipulated; he pulled them closer to him, letting their messages fill his senses as he followed the clearly lighted path. A few glimpse danced in his eyes of stone and more of the fuzzy creatures, but he pushed them away. Now was not the time to play with the advanced Ninja techniques he'd barely begun to understand.

Finally, his route led him to a room with a simple metal table, on top of it, unharmed; was his morpher. Shane grinned, but didn't lose his concentration. He kept his sense alert as he circled the table. Finally, facing the only exit to the room, he picked it up, feeling the reassuring hum of power as he slipped it onto his wrist.

Crimson fire obscured his vision, when it cleared; he stood in a room of metal. Shane held very still, his eyes taking in the people around him as his other senses told him more. The air was recycled, of better quality that most SCUBA gear, but not fresh. It not only held the stories of what had just happened, but the blurred story of many years. He sneezed, he _hated_ recycled air. "Welcoming to the Astro Megaship Mark II," one of the men facing him said. "I'm Andros of KO-35."

"Shane Clarke, of Earth," Shane replied, looking around. He recognized Rocky, holding hands with a beautiful, red clad woman and half hiding behind a tall, dark haired man that Shane recognized from the instructional holograms that had helped to guide him. "Rocky," he said with a nod.

"Hey Shane," Rocky said, looking slightly ashamed. "You good?"

"I've been better," Shane replied. "I'd dearly like to know what is going on."

"He's a red all right," one of the others said dryly, "I'm TJ. Nice trick with the Barak in there. Those things will eat anything cotton."

"Speaking from experience, TJ?" Another man asked, the light teasing in his tone making the others snicker.

"If you give him that thing, I will kill you Leo, and then Kai and Kendrix will have nothing to fight over." TJ replied.

"I'm Leo, Galaxy Red, from Mirinoi," the teaser said.

"I'm Cole, Wild Force Red," one of the others said. He reminded Shane of a puppy, all eager tail wagging and begging for friendship.

"I'm Wes, Time Force Red," said the guy next to him.

"I'm Eric," said the guy on his other side, "Quantum Ranger, technical Red."

Rocky leaned against the lady beside him, "This is Alia of Javor, Red Aura Ranger.

"There are two other Reds, but Tommy had tests he couldn't get out of and Carter is against any and all space travel," Jason said easily. "What's going on is that we wanted to see if you could handle a challenge. Look, Rocky's been in contact with Cam for a while, and we heard some things about you that aren't good. _Eltare_ has been hearing some of those stories and if I'm in charge of Earth's Rangers, nominally, then the Eltarean Senior Red is in charge of all Rangers, period. Your test was to prove to the universe that you had the skills. We're sorry we couldn't warn you, but that was part of it. You passed, Shane, which is a good thing. With the new Eltarean Senior, I could have gotten in a lot of trouble if I defended you. Not that I wouldn't have, but now, we can maintain our good relations."

"Basically, you tested me for the sake of aliens?" Shane asked.

"Look, we can argue about this later," Jason said, "we have a tradition to finish off a test like this. We're going to take you to get drunk, and you can meet Kerric, the new Eltarean Senior Red."

RFRFRFRFRFRFRFRF

'Kerric' turned out to be a man about Shane's age, with a shy grin, he had long, black hair and violet eyes, both of which made him stand out with the two bald, grey eyed Eltareans who flanked him. "Shane," Jason said, "This is Trebon, the Elder Red on Eltare, and Jennis, who followed him. This," he grinned at Kerric, "is Kerric, a rookie, like you, but already named Senior. Over here is Tallen and Kresent. Both are Reds. They're here to celebrate you becoming one of us."

"Nice to meet you," Shane said, cautiously. These men were deadly, he could read that easily, but they weren't Ninjas, or even close. He touched the switch blade he'd slipped into his pocket as a security measure and offered Kerric a smile. "So, how long have you had a morpher?"

"Six months," Kerric said, "but I doubt I've seen half the action that you have. I mean, we've been dealing with pirates lately, but nothing on Lothor's level."

Shane snorted, noting that the other Rangers were heading over to a section of the bar, "Our group's wandering off, let's follow," he said, starting after them. Kerric fell in step beside him. "As for Lothor, he's not as intelligent as you seem to think. I don't know if it's that he's never gone up against Rangers or what, but while it is intense, it's not has horrible as everyone wants to paint it. His 'armies' aren't that impressive and he doesn't show any grasp of tactics. I mean, even Dustin can out fight his goons, and Dustin, well, Dustin's half the reason I have a bad rep at the Academy. I'm not always the serious one, but Dustin's an airhead." Shane grinned fondly, "But he's _my_ airhead, ya' know."

Kerric shook his head, "What is an airhead?"

"Oh, uh, well, it's a person who isn't serious a lot. In fact, I don't think Dustin's serious period. He forgets stuff, and loses things, and he's always late. He's smart, don't get me wrong, but he doesn't always get things like everyone else. I mean, almost every Earth Ninja I've ever met has that sort of personality. Look at Rocky; he sure doesn't seem to take things seriously." Shane replied.

The man in question was currently riding on Jason's back, one arm around his shoulders, the other one in the air, and legs locked around the other red's waist. "I see," Kerric said, "I think I understand."

"All right," Jason announced, dumping Rocky unceremoniously, "it's time to give a toast." Glasses were pressed into Kerric and Shane's hands as they joined the group. "I say, a salute to Zordon, may his Goodness be a force in this universe for many years to come."

"To Zordon," everyone said, with Shane a half beat late.

Kerric smiled, "Your turn, Shane," he said.

Shane swallowed and closed his eyes, and then he lifted his glass, "To Peace," he said after a moment, "may it come swiftly and stay long."

"To Peace," went the echo.

Toasts went around the room, until all the glasses were empty and a faint buzz warned Shane that he needed to be careful with this stuff. "All right," Jason said, "we promised that this time, we wouldn't do anything involving the action 'to strip'."

Cheers came from a pair of men across the room, Wes and Eric, Shane remembered.

"Hush," Jason ordered, "in that light, we thought we'd play 'Drunk Charades'. It's a game that Tommy taught me at the last dorm party. While following the basic Charades rules, we add in these. The person who is performing must take a shot before getting up to act. For every wrong guess the team makes, they must all have a shot, and the guesser must take two. For every right guess, the other team takes a shot. How does that sound?"

Cheers answered Jason's suggestion and he grinned, "All right, to determine teams is simple, first, we choose Captains. That is selected by a chugging contest. The first two to finish their drinks pick their teams."

Two waitresses appeared and began to hand out bottles; Shane took his with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. He'd done the drinking thing in high school, and now, it just wasn't his thing any more. Besides, weird things happened to air currents when he had too much. Catching Kerric's expression, he leaned over, "Not a drinker?"

"No," Kerric shook his head, "it makes my Sight go off."

Shane grinned, "I know a few Ninja tricks, just stick close to me if you can."

Kerric nodded, "I'll follow your lead."

RFRFRFRFRFRFRFRFRF

The bar was empty, except for the drunken piles of Red Rangers in their corner. Shane and Kerric were helping the servers clean up, Kerric collecting empty bottles and Shane mopping up something that had spilled. Unlike the other Rangers, Shane and Kerric had not drunk themselves unconscious, in fact, Shane didn't even feel the faint buzz he had earlier. It had been almost too easy to keep switching his full glass with someone else's empty one. Although he'd been unable to avoid some shots, other's he'd skipped. The ones he'd had to empty into his mouth had been spit back into his 'chaser' bottle; a trick he'd learned from some chick flick Tori had shamed him into watching.

A crackling noise made both men and the five servers look up, tense. A worried looking girl with pink and purple curls was released from the pink curtain of sparkles. "Can I help you?" Shane asked, being the closest to her. "I mean, the bar's closed."

"I know," the girl said, her purple eyes worried, "but I left my _thess'rek_ here, and I hoped I could retrieve it."

"Forgive me for being an Earther, but what is a _thess'rek?_" Shane asked.

"It's a pouch that I had fastened to my belt. It's purple with a pink stripe. I must have it back," she said, "It has important things in it."

Shane frowned, then walked over to the bar and grabbed the purse he'd found earlier, "Is this it?"

"Yes, oh, thank you!" The girl said, she claimed it from him eagerly, and then kissed him fully. "I'm Katya of Auric, Pink Aurian Ranger."

"Shane of Earth, Red Wind Ranger," Shane replied.

Katya smiled, "Are you here at the Haven often?"

"My first visit," Shane admitted, "rookie initiation. I think I might come back though."

"Good, I'll keep an eye out for you," Katya replied. "For now, I have to go, I'm sorry." She fiddled with her communicator and vanished into the pink sparkles again.

Shane smiled slightly, and then caught Kerric's amused grin, "What?" He asked.

"Nothing," Kerric replied.

* * *

A/N2: Jason's dad has Alzheimer's Disease, and Jason's basically taking care of him. I gave Jason a pair of sibs, older sister, younger brother, who, clearly, aren't involved.

The last section actually has a theme song. It came to me as I was writing it. It's called "We Danced" by Brad Paisley.

Will Shane one day pull a 'Rocky' and marry Katya? I don't know yet.


	11. Star Racers

Disclaimer: Don't own them.

A/N: Hunter's test is a different style than my other ones, I'm not sure what's the deal with it, but it went as it went, and I think it's one of my better efforts in an odd way.

* * *

Shane hadn't gotten to Rocky's bar as often as he'd wanted after meeting Katya; but the trips he'd made had been enough. It wasn't love, what he and Katya shared, it was a friendship, similar to what he shared with Tori and Dustin, but different, because they weren't Rangers on the same team. They shared only one thing outside of the generic 'we're Rangers' bond, and that was asteroid relay. It was a race through an asteroid belt, where one pilot took the outbound run and the other pilot took the inbound. Today's race was a sanctioned one, specifically for Rangers, and it was a chance for Shane and Katya to prove that they could pull off the teamwork of some of the best relay pilots amongst the Rangers. Especially Kerric and his new co-pilot, his brother slash blue ranger Serric.

Shane took a deep breath and smiled at his partner, Katya, who smiled back. He closed his eyes and cleared his mind, for the next hour, there would be no Wind Rangers to guide and keep together, no city to protect and most of all, no Thunder Rangers to befriend and betray and befriend again. With the utter stillness that rested on the cusp of meditation, Shane opened his eyes and let his hands rest lightly on the controls. Now, he was ready.

The start light came on and Shane threw their pod out of the airlock with glee. The race wasn't that hard, shields were generated to keep the micro asteroids from holing the ship and reflecting fields bounced the ship off the larger ones. That was also the difficulty. The reflecting fields could bounce a pilot right off his intended course, and would cost him valuable seconds. Shane's tactics tended to rely on brute strength, forcing the pod back into place after those rebounds if he couldn't make the bounce advantageous. Finally, they reached the turn around, seated firmly in third and just behind Kerric and Serric. Shane slammed the pod into the sensor, sending them careening back the way they came and Katya took over. Instead of muscle, Katya used the bounces easily, turning each one into a chance to get ahead. They passed the Eltareans and came up close to the Al'hiaqs that had the lead. Unfortunately, the finish line showed up before they got passed them, but Shane had to grin, they'd beaten Kerric and Serric.

They left the field and headed up to the ship after the Al'hiaqs, with the Eltareans right behind them. They landed neatly and climbed out. Kerric looked oddly triumphant, "I don't think this one should count," he said, "because Katya totally had to make up for your mistakes. The level of expertise isn't even."

"What do you mean?" Shane asked.

"Katya grew up doing this, you didn't. I think we should have a private race, you and one of your teammates versus a pair of rookies I know. I'll train my pair, you and Katya train your co-pilot, and in two months we meet at the High Pass Relay Races and do the Ranger course."

Shane considered it, and looked at Katya who grinned, "We can totally smoke any Rookie you bring," she told Kerric.

"Let's do it," Shane replied and offered Kerric his hand.

Kerric shook it and the four headed to the podium to await the other racers and accept their accolades.

RFNSRFNSRFNSRFNS

Shane watched the Crimson Ranger run through a series of katas quietly, the deserted beach was the ideal training ground, and Shane often used it for similar reasons. "What's up?" Hunter asked as he finished the kata.

"I need a favor," Shane replied.

"What kind of favor?" Hunter asked.

Shane took a breath, "Well, there's this tradition that new Reds have to prove themselves to the older Reds. I'm waiting on Jason to return my call on you, by the way. But this isn't about that, this is about my initiation. I met this…Pink Ranger, named Katya. She lives off-planet, but we've been hanging out whenever we can find time. Me, her, an Eltarean named Kerric who's also Red, and his brother, Serric who's Blue. None of us are really into drinking like the older Reds, we're more into sports. Katya and Kerric introduced me to one in particular that we're all kind of obsessed about. It's a relay race, through an asteroid field."

"What, you don't get enough death defying action with Lothor?" Hunter interrupted.

"The racing's perfectly safe, most of it's done by civilians, and there's even a professional circuit. Those races often hold special Ranger races, since Ranger reflexes are a lot more fine tuned than any civilian. Katya and I make a great team, but Kerric thinks our races are a little one-sided because Katya's people basically invented the races. So he's offered a challenge, his brother Serric is like me, he didn't really start racing until recently. We're both supposed to select someone who has never raced, is a Ranger, and preferably of the same species. We have two months to train that person, with the help of our more experienced co-pilots, to be our pilots for a race."

"And you want me?" Hunter asked.

"Yes," Shane said, "Dustin doesn't like space travel at all, and Tori's already said she doesn't want to even try it, back when I started doing the sanctioned races. I think you'll do well, you're competitive, you do an extreme sport and you're used to racing. Blake might be able to do it, but I'd prefer a Red to back me up anyway."

Hunter frowned, "Let me think about it, Shane, and talk to Blake. I'll get back to you."

"Thanks," Shane said. He shifted a little, "I have to go; Sensei has some training drill that he wants me and Dustin to start soon."

"Later," Hunter replied, settling into another ready stance.

RFNSRFNSRFNSRFNSRFNSRFNS

"_Shane Clarke, this is Jason Lee Scott, I'm returning your call about the car, I'm sorry I've missed you. I can be reached at the same number any time this week after seven pm."_

Shane grinned, "All right," he said.

"Who is that man?" His mom asked.

"Mr. Lee Scott?" Shane replied, "He has a car he's looking to sell, and I'm thinking about buying it. It's a fixer, but it does run already."

"What sort of car?" His dad asked.

"'93 Chevy truck, a C-1500, extended cab, short bed," Shane replied, "He wants 2500 for it. I'll call him back this evening; I want to see the vehicle before I decide if I want to spend some of my savings on it."

"You want to buy a truck," he dad replied, a bit startled.

"Well, yeah," Shane said, "I mean, it's not fair that we expect Tori to not only drive us around, but to haul everything too. I'm going to be living on my own soon, anyway, I need a vehicle, and this one might be it."

"It's your choice son," his dad said, turning back to his paper.

His mom nodded with a smile before heading outside.

Shane went up to his room, having become used to his parents flipping between concerned and ignoring him since he'd been a teen. He had been born late in their lives, and he wasn't sure they'd even expected him. Porter was their favorite anyways.

That evening, Shane called Jason, "Hello?"

"Mr. Lee Scott, this is Shane Clarke." Shane said, closing his door.

"Hi, Shane, what's up?" Jason replied with a chuckle.

"You know how Wes and Eric are teammates, and both qualify as Red?" Shane asked, dropping into his desk chair.

"What about it?" Jason asked.

"Well, my team's grown a bit," Shane replied, "we've added a pair of Ninjas from the Thunder Academy, Hunter and Blake Bradley. Hunter is the Crimson Thunder Ranger and Blake is the Navy Thunder Ranger."

"Crimson, huh? Like a dark red, right?"

"Dark in more than one way," Shane replied, spinning his chair to stare at the posters on his wall. "Lothor brainwashed them to kill Sensei. They didn't succeed, but they almost did. Their parents' ghosts showed up and told them that Lothor had killed them, and not Sensei. They fought for us, and then took off to think for a while. When they came back, we thought we had a chance to get the students back, but it was a trap, and Hunter and Blake turned evil again. We broke through again, but then Hunter got a breath of these gasses, and covered in a weird slime and he thought Blake had betrayed him. That wasn't fun; I still have bruises from that. We got Hunter back, and they're on our side of things now."

"Sounds like Tommy's life in a nutshell," Jason observed.

"Yeah," Shane replied.

"We'll have to think of an appropriate initiation," Jason continued.

"Well, I was thinking on that," Shane said, "I mean, I know him best, and I know that he's not the sort to take some things easily. And well, I've been caught in a challenge by Kerric, and I think Hunter and I working together is test enough for him. We're not exactly best friends, so the teamwork needed would be proof that we get along. You guys can go drinking afterwards."

Jason laughed, "Ok, we'll see."

"I'll call you about everything later. Now, about your truck..." Shane let his voice trail off.

"I'm coming through Blue Bay Harbor in the next month or so to help Tommy move to Reefside. I'll drop by and you can test my truck." Jason offered.

"Sounds good," Shane said.

RFNSRFNSRFNSRFNS

Shane grinned at Katya as Hunter stumbled out of the simulator, "I thought you said these things didn't blow up!" Hunter said.

"Well," Shane said, "if I knew what you'd done, I could explain it. You got a guess, Katya?"

"Nope," Katya said, stifling giggles.

"Then how the hell did I get blown up three out of five times?" Hunter replied.

"No clue," the two replied with snickers.

"Great, so, Shane, are you wearing a dark pink, or is Katya just wearing a pale pink?"

"What?" The two asked in unison.

"I mean, you two are so much alike, I was just wondering if you weren't secretly the same color." Hunter said.

Shane frowned, "I'm sorry Hunter, but, man, the opportunity for amusement is there."

"Glad to provide the entertainment," Hunter said.

Katya shrugged, "I just wanted to see if you'd figure it out, because I actually know what you're doing wrong." When both young men looked at her, she shrugged, "It's a common error, actually, I mean; you've been getting the catastrophic system error, right?" Hunter nodded, "Then we can fix it with little difficulty. Shane's got an instinct for it, so he does it automatically, but you need to compensate."

"What am I doing, or not doing?" Hunter asked.

"You're not venting the air properly, and I imagine you've got the grav engine too high." Katya said. "Let's get in the doubles sim and I'll show you." She gestured to the larger, pod like device and headed for it."

"Figures an Air Ninja wouldn't have a problem with air flow," Hunter muttered.

Shane shrugged, "I'm sorry, Hunter. I honestly didn't know."

"It's ok," Hunter said. He ducked into the new simulator and the door sealed. Shane smiled to himself as he settled in a chair to watch the screen, it was working. Kerric's bet had given him the perfect opportunity to guide Hunter into working with him. Oh, they still fought, but Hunter was more relaxed with him. He listened to Shane, and Shane returned the favor, because if Shane knew the asteroid pod racing, then Hunter knew fighting. That was the secret behind Shane choosing Hunter, because the racing gave them something unrelated to being Ninjas or Rangers, and especially without Lothor, something they could build a friendship over. He winced as the pod slammed off an asteroid; as soon as Hunter figured out that avoiding the on coming asteroids was better than back tracking.

RFNSRFNSRFNSRFNSRFNS

Hunter put his head down on the table in Ninja Ops and let his body become boneless, Shane wished he could follow suit, but Dustin was still leaning against him, and was probably dead asleep as well, the restless yellow hadn't moved in a while.

Cam cleared his throat, "Shane, your friend Katya's calling."

Shane groaned, "Can you tell her that I'm too tired from Ranger duties to do anything." He blinked, "Tell her to tell Kerric we'll try at the next meet, ok?"

"Is that today?" Hunter asked, his voice muffled by the table.

"No, Hunter, we'll just wait another month," Shane said, his eyes closing as he sat there. As Cam's voice filled the room between Katya's lilting tones, he wondered how the new Green Ranger could possibly have the strength to hold a conversation after the week they'd had. Then he let even that thought go, because he just didn't have the energy to care.

RFNSRFNSRFNSRFNSRFNS

"I'm beginning to think you're avoiding me."

Shane jumped and spun, only to find Kerric leaning against the pod he was working on. "What?" He said, brightly.

"I'm beginning to think you're avoiding me. I mean, every time there's been a race, you back out, what's up?" Kerric said, crouching down to look at Shane.

"Lothor, Kerric," Shane replied, grabbing a wrench and tightening a bolt. "He's been really pushing us lately. Sensei says that the Elements are responding to something Lothor's doing. I know I can sense it, but I don't know what's going on."

"Oh," Kerric said, "is it that bad?"

"Worse than you think," Shane replied, "but we think we have a way to get the students back. Hunter and Blake leave in the morning, while we try to distract Lothor."

"You should sleep," Kerric said.

"Can't," Shane said, "and yes, I've tried. So I thought I'd come up here and do something to get my mind off everything."

"And I'm not helping. How is Hunter doing?" Kerric asked.

"He's changed a lot. Blake was never a problem; he's always been more willing to engage. Hunter, on the other hand, had to learn to trust. At least he already trusted Dustin, and this work has gotten him to trust me. With Blake and Tori probably already on their march to the alter, everything's going swimmingly. I worried when Cam got the Samurai Amulet, but he's integrated real well."

"The only integration you should be worried about is the one that involves your bed," a tired but amused voice said.

Shane turned, and smiled, "Hi, Hunter. Hunter, this is Kerric, Senior Eltarean Red; Kerric, Hunter, Crimson Thunder."

"Nice to meet you," Kerric said.

"Likewise," Hunter said, he stuck his hand out for Shane to grab, "Come on, I should have known you'd come out here."

"Oh?" Shane asked, letting Hunter pull him up.

"Yeah, you're worried about tomorrow, even though there is nothing you can really do about it." Hunter replied, amused. Turning to Kerric, he said, "He always does this, he thinks he can escape and worry, thing is, he shouldn't be here. Unless you have something that you really need to talk about, Dustin said that if I dragged him back, he'd tie him up."

Shane opened his mouth to protest, but stopped himself.

"I'm not going to ask," Kerric said. "Go to bed, Shane." With a snap/hiss, he vanished into a teleportation stream.

Shane regarded Hunter, "Dustin wants to tie me up?"

"I didn't ask," Hunter replied, "I'm just doing my job."

"Your job?" Shane repeated.

"Yeah, as your second, it's my job to make sure you take care of yourself. And before you ask, I know that you trust me to take care of my team, the Thunders, but when we work together, I know you understand the other Winds and Cam better than I do."

"Well," Shane said, "I don't know about knowing Cam better than you." He kept his tone light, testing Hunter.

Hunter snorted, "If he tells me to stay away from his computer when Dustin's sitting on the desk one more time I'm going to fry it."

"I think that's what he's afraid of," Shane replied.

RFNSRFNSRFNSRFNSRFNSRFNS

Shane and Hunter settled into the pod easily, exchanging grins, "You ready?" Shane asked.

"Yes," Hunter replied. The warning buzz came over the comm. and they started the pod, with Hunter taking the controls. Glancing over, Shane saw Serric and his co-pilot, an Eltarean colonial ranger named Hasper, also getting ready. "Focus, Hawk-boy," Hunter muttered.

"Steady on, Buggy," Shane replied as the second buzz sounded.

"Don't call me that," Hunter snapped.

"Find a new nickname for me," Shane said serenely as the final buzzer sounded.

Hunter muttered something that sounded obscene as he threw the pod forward.

Shane grinned as he leaned back and watched Hunter make his way through the course. The training they had fitted in around defeating Lothor and finishing their Ninja studies was paying off. Hunter was like the lightning he controlled, deliberately using asteroids to propel them forward, with the easy seeming yet highly skilled attitude that made him a power on the motocross track as well. Hunter had taken to the sport like a fish to water, and his times with Shane beat any of Shane's times with Katya.

Soon, Shane shook of his bemused admiration of Hunter's style and took over, altering the lightening like path for his preferred manner. If Hunter was a lighting bolt, Shane knew he was the stooping hawk, speed and as straight a line as he could manage. He dared to glance at the positional radar and grinned, it was unbelievable, but they were so far ahead only a major blunder would cost them the race, much less the inner race against Serric.

It was a foregone conclusion that Shane and Hunter returned to the hanger far ahead of the rest of the racers, utilizing a teamwork and understanding that had been built as teammates in a life or death war against Lothor. When they exited the pod, Shane spotted Jason and Rocky waiting for them. "Come with me," he told Hunter and walked over to the pair, "Jason, Rocky, hello."

"Hi, Shane," Jason said, "looked like an exciting race."

"Yeah," Shane shrugged, "It's losing its challenge though. Jason, Rocky, this is Hunter Bradley, Crimson Thunder Ranger. Hunter, this is Jason Lee Scott, Senior Earth Red and Rocky DeSantos, former Earth Red."

"Nice to meet you, Hunter," Jason said, shaking the other man's hand. "Shane's told us something about you."

"Nothing good," Shane added with a grin.

"I could tell some stories about you too," Hunter replied. "It's an honor to meet you, sir."

"Just Jason, please," Jason replied.

"Yeah, we're too young to be 'sir'," Rocky added.

"Nice to meet you," Hunter said, shaking Rocky's hand as well.

"So, why are you two here?" Shane asked.

"Well, the reasons are two-fold," Jason said, "I wanted to meet you, Hunter, and because this is as good a time and place as any."

"What?" Shane asked.

"Shane, I wasn't sure what to expect when you took up the Red Wind morpher. I was hoping that I could find someone with a special set of skills. What we got was a Red than any planet would be proud to claim. That's why I wanted to do this," Jason smiled, "I've been the leading Human for Earth for ten years, and I'd like to retire to a quiet life. You have the diplomacy, charisma and intelligence to take my place. Like when you became a Ranger, you don't get to say no. You are officially the Senior Red Ranger on Earth. I'll be around to give you advice as your Elder, but it is now your job to represent Earth in the numerous functions held through out the galaxy. As a man with a job at a place that doesn't exist, I think you'll have an easier time of getting away than I ever did. Especially since you don't have to lie to your boss about why you need the vacations."

"Mr. Scott," Shane said, "Jason, you can't be serious."

"I am," Jason replied, "it's the way you handled Hunter's initiation that proved my thoughts right."

"My what?" Hunter interrupted.

Shane sighed, "The bet was real, but I chose you with the intent of proving to the other Reds that you could work well with someone besides Blake. I knew you wouldn't be able to handle being tricked into running into a cave full of cotton eating monsters, so I went with something more dignified."

"Shane, rule number five," Jason said, trying to look serious, but his lips were twitching, "No digs at TJ if he isn't around to hear them."

"Sir yes sir," Shane replied.

"Who is TJ?" Hunter asked.

"One of the old guys," Shane said with a shrug, "I'll explain later, for now, we have to go gloat." He slung his arm around Hunter's shoulders and steered him over to where Serric and Hasper were parking their pod."

Jason turned Rocky, horrified, "Are we old?" He demanded.

Rocky laughed, "Jason, you aren't thirty yet. My kids think I'm old, but that's another story. Come on, let's let the kids play. I know of a new liquor that goes with tacos."

* * *

A/N2: Oh yeah...and the ending's got a special twist to it. Jase isn't gone forever, though. His brand of crazy will be back, I promise!

Jason shook his head, but let his friend lead him away from the crowd, a mantle of responsibility that had been on his shoulders for ten years sliding away slowly.


	12. Long Vacation

Disclaimer: If I owned PR, there would have been more alcohol

A/N: All right...here is Conner in all his glory. And if you don't believe me about the white elephant, well, go ahead and try it!

* * *

"Conner, can you stay behind a bit, I need to talk to you alone," Tommy said, casually.

Ethan and Kira gave Conner sympathetic glances as they headed up. "What's up, Dr. O?" Conner asked.

"Listen, Conner, do you think you can find a way to go away for a weekend without your parents totally freaking out?"

"Sure," Conner said, "I can go fake a visit to my brother. Eric and I sound enough alike on the phone to fake out the parental units. He won't mind covering for me."

"All right, make it three weeks," Dr. O said, "some friends of mine want to get to know the new Red Rookie."

"Yes sir," Conner said with a grin.

RFDTRFDTRFDTRFDTRFDTRFDT

"We said three weeks, Tom, not two months," Jason said as Tommy let him into his house.

"Blame Trent," Conner advised, "that's what I always do." The young man was sitting on the floor in Tommy's living room, with several glasses before him, all of them empty.

Jason raised an eyebrow at Tommy, who grinned at him before looking at Conner, "Did you memorize what Dendarian Fire tasted like? Because I don't want to see you drink that."

"I got it Dr O," Conner said.

"Good," Tommy replied, "I need to talk to Jason, so we're going upstairs. Have more of the red whiskey if you're still nervous."

"Yes sir," Conner said, or rather slurred. He picked up a bottle from the floor beside him and poured it into a glass.

Tommy gestured to Jason and they went up stairs, once safely in his bedroom, Tommy shut the door and started laughing. "That was Dendarian Fire," Jason said, "that he poured in his glass."

"I know," Tommy replied, trying to control his laughter. "I told him that there were certain drinks he wasn't to have and that he should recognize the taste so that people couldn't fool him into drinking the strong stuff. I'm his responsible science teacher after all. Then I gave him the weak stuff and told him it was the strong stuff and vice versa. He's pretty close to sloshed, which can only be good."

"Why is that?" Jason asked.

"Because I need to convince him to put that on," Tommy pointed at the bed where a pair of white pants and a red shirt was waiting.

"Why does he need to put that on?" Jason asked.

"Because when we get to Rocky's, we're going to get him drunk enough to think he's cold and he'll put on the jacket that Rocky's going to loan him and convince him that karaoke is a good idea."

"We did that already," Jason said.

"Not when Conner will be dressed pretty much like a bunny and singing 'Peter Cotton Tail'," Tommy replied.

Jason snorted, "Man, you're evil."

"Well, that's been Trent's job lately," Tommy replied with a sigh.

"So, what's going on, I thought you were done; just mentoring."

Tommy grimaced, "I thought I was done to," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"What do you mean?" Jason asked, then, sensitive as only a Ranger could be; he noticed the color of Tommy's pants, "I thought you were into the khaki look, not black. Does Zack know you stole his color?"

Tommy frowned, "They didn't tell you? I thought Adam would, at least."

"Tell me what?" Jason demanded.

"Sit down, let me tell you about what's been going on," Tommy said, and settled on his bed. Jason followed suite. "I'm not just their mentor any more. Remember when we talked, and I had to run because I was late? Well, when I reached the Cyberspace, Mesogog's goons attacked and kidnapped me. Mesogog wanted me to free a Dino Gem from a crystal. He had me strapped down to a 'life force extractor'. I wasn't afraid, but I sure wasn't happy; not that Mesogog could tell. Got to throw out my new line, and made one on the run."

"What lines?" Jason interrupted.

"You know; 'Sorry can't help you, I'm just a high school science teacher.' Well, Mesogog wants to turn back time and bring back the dinosaurs, right? I thought up this one, 'Why can't you just want to take over the world like all the rest of the sickos?'"

Jason snorted, "I like them, too bad I can't borrow them."

Tommy shrugged, "Well, back to the story. Just as Mesogog turned on the extractor, the kids showed up to save me, with Haley's help."

"I knew I liked her for something," Jason said.

"We got out of there, and I took the Gem with me. We got out, and Mesogog attacked. I blocked the attack with the Gem, and uh," Tommy grinned sheepishly, "Ikindofbecametheblackranger."

"Hold on," Jason said, "you're a Black Ranger now?"

"Yeah," Tommy said.

"Can we strip your team like that?" Jason asked.

"Haley can monitor everything, and we think Trent's really on our side this time, and Adam and Tanya are close enough that if we go belly up they can be here in a heart beat." Tommy replied. "That's not all that's happened though. First, we got Trent, who was evil at first, on accident. His Gem was twisted, and in turn, it twisted him. So we had to deal with the 'Evil White Ranger'. I have to say, he could have given the EGR a run for his money. Trent trapped me in amber before I could warn the team. Then a weird asteroid hit and brought out hidden facets of the guys' personalities. I wish I could have seen that, because, apparently, Conner became a geek, Ethan became a jock and Kira turned into Kimberly."

Jason laughed, but kept silent, sensing that this wasn't the time.

"Haley got the idea to use a fragment of the rock to free me. It worked, but I wound up stuck in my suite."

"Wait a minute, how do you get 'stuck'?" Jason asked.

"No clue, you could ask Haley, I'm sure she's got a theory, if not an answer, by now. That's why I called and canceled, by the way. Well, then Haley got her hands on some slime that she used to force me out of morph. It worked, but…the Gems gave us, well, civilian powers would be the best description I could offer. Conner has super speed, Kira has a sonic scream, and Ethan has armored skin when he needs it. Trent's a chameleon, I guess. I turn invisible." Tommy gave Jason a half-grin, and seeing the disbelief on Jason's face, he triggered the invisibility and moved off the bed. Yeah, it was worth it to tell Jason in person, he mused as he grabbed his camera and took a picture, that look was worthy of blackmail.

"Give me that camera," Jason said.

Tommy flashed visible and stuck it in his pocket, that way it would vanish when he turned, "Not in this life time," he replied, opened the door to his bedroom and vanished again. After getting out of the way of the door, Tommy watched Jason charge down the stairs, presumably after him, and strolled into his bedroom to tuck the camera away in his underwear drawer. Brothers in spirit they may be, but even Jason drew the line at Tommy's underwear.

Jason came back up stairs to find Tommy carefully spiking his hair, "I still can't believe you cut your hair," Jason said as he settled back on the bed, "And what does invisibility have to do with your story."

"Well, I got demorphed all right, and my invisibility went into hyper drive. I couldn't turn back. That was both fun and annoying. Haley still freaks out when she can't see me, but she can hear me." Tommy shrugged as he applied a layer of hair spray to the hair gel already in place, which was layered over mousse. "So, Hailey finally thinks she can snap me back visible. It's risky, but we go for it. That's when they could see me, but I was in a coma. I had the strangest dream to," Tommy turned around, "I was there, unable to morph, in this dimension where everything was red. Then Zeo Five showed up and attacked me, so we fought and I defeated him. Then I was up against the White Ranger, and we fought and I won. Then the Green Ranger showed up, but it was the EGR. He was the toughest, but I defeated him. Then they were all there and I thought I would have to fight them, but they told me that in fighting them I was fighting to live. They gave me back my Gem and I woke up in time to help the guys. While this was going on, we also had Trent to deal with. He faked being good, and then he got turned good for real during an accident in Mesogog's lab."

"Tommy, if you spray that thing one more time, I'm going to get the matches," Jason said, as Tommy was reaching for a different bottle of hair spray.

Tommy flinched, knocking into the dresser and sending the various hair products all over the floor. "Jase," he said, almost whining.

"No, we have a Red Rookie downstairs on his way to being drunk and we aren't even in the stratosphere. Let's go." Jason said. Tommy sighed and peered at his image in the mirror. "And trust me, your hair won't move even if someone set off a nuclear device."

"You wouldn't, would you?" Tommy asked.

"God, you and your hair, just because you had that accident, you're like this prima ballerina or something," Jason replied. "Conner, let's go," he added as they started down the stairs.

Conner came out of the living room unsteadily. He actually ran into both sides of the door frames before he managed to find the stairs. "You are such a lightweight," Jason muttered as he put a hand on Conner's shoulder and winced at the sound of Tommy tripping on the stairs. "Come on, Drunk and Drunker, let's go," he said. He really needed some alcohol, and they wouldn't be at Rocky's soon enough.

"I'm not…" Tommy began, only to be interrupted as Jason teleported the trio on the _Dragon_, "Drunk, oh my head."

"You have been drinking," Jason said as he entered the coordinates of Javor. "I can tell, because you're becoming whiney, obsessive and annoying. I told you, never start drinking before me. It's not funny if I'm sober and you aren't. And Conner's so drunk, watch this," he turned to the Rookie, who has standing and looking around uncertainly, "Hey Conner," the Rookie focused on him, "White elephant."

Conner snorted, and then began to giggle.

"Yeah, he's drunk," Jason sighed.

RFDTRFDTRFDTRFDTRFDTRFDT

Jason met Hunter and Shane on the teleportation pad outside the Haven. Tommy and Conner were inside, having a weird dance contest. "You guys are late," Jason informed them, "although if we hurry, we can see Tommy doing the Tootsie Roll."

"I'm not drunk enough for that," Hunter muttered.

"I'm not drunk, period," Shane replied. "Why are we here anyway?"

"Witnesses," Jason said. "I'm getting drunk so that I can deal with Tommy when he gets it in his mind to eat worms. You two are going to keep Conner out of trouble." He gestured, "First, we need to talk, and it's not a good thing."

"I didn't do it," Shane said.

"I'm not going to ask," Jason muttered, leading the way to a small grouping of benches. "A couple of friends need sanctuary, because things on their planet are getting uncomfortable. They're human, but they've never been to Earth in their life. I can't take them in; I have the crack-cookie feeding, nosy neighbor spawned from Maligore's pit of fire. Think one of you could convince your Master to take them in to acclimatize them to Earth?"

"We can but ask," Shane replied, "Why?"

"Let's just say that if you ever accept help from anybody but the Eltareans, no matter how good their offer seems, I will use the Power given to me as Elder Red and strip you of your Power and status," Jason replied, "I'm not going to let Earth be overwhelmed by good intentions."

"Road to hell, right?" Hunter asked.

"Precisely."

One of the waitresses stuck her head out the door, "Um, Jason, I think you need to get in here. Tommy's got Conner doing the 'strip' Macarena."

RFDTRFDTRFDTRFDTRFDTRFDT

Conner woke up in a room bathed in white light; he groaned and tried to cover his head. "Are you up?" A little child asked.

"I'm sick," Conner replied, "go away."

"Ok," the child said. His, or her, feet sounded like a herd of elephants as they left where ever he was.

"Awake are we?" An older, even more amused voice said.

"Ugh, I'm going to DIE," Conner announced.

""No such luck, Conner. Now then, if you could drink this, everything will be a lot better," the man said.

"Will it kill me?" Conner asked, hopefully.

"Maybe, try it and see."

Conner held out his hand and accepted a small glass, carefully; he brought it to his face, took a deep breath and downed it in one gulp. "Agh!" He cried, sitting up, "That crap is nasty!"

The voice chuckled, "It's DECA's secret recipe."

"You know, I'm beginning to agree with Carter, the Mark II has an identity crisis," a female voice added, highly amused.

Conner blinked rapidly and his eyesight cleared to reveal two adults watching him. He was in a room he'd never seen before; it appeared to be completely metal. The two adults were a pretty, Asian woman wearing a gray uniform and a pink shirt and a Hispanic man wearing a similar uniform with a black shirt. "Greetings, Conner," the man said, "I'm Carlos, that's Cassie. You're on the Astro Megaship Mark II. Feeling better?"

"Yeah," Conner said, "How did I get here? Where's Dr. O?"

"Tommy? He's enduring Jason's teasing for the stunt you two pulled last night," Cassie said in amusement.

"What?" Conner repeated.

"Look, Conner, we'd explain, but since we only saw the rear end of it all," Carlos said with a snicker, "we'll let Jason do that. Now then, we couldn't find your clothes, so DECA made some clothes, and Andros is sacrificing a shirt, so we'll just leave you to get dressed."

Cassie nodded, "Just come out when you're ready. We're almost to Earth anyways."

"Ok," Conner said uncertainly. He watched the two leave the room. Once it was sealed, he confirmed his state of…undress, then he looked for the clothes. They were sitting on a bench that fitted into the opposite wall. Unsteadily he got up and dressed, finding that the clothes fit loosely, but not horribly so. Feeling somewhat better, although he'd really have liked a shower, he left the room.

Two little boys stood in the hallway watching his door; for a brief moment, Conner felt as if he'd stepped into a horror movie. Both boys had black and white striped hair, huge violet eyes and wore purple and silver, one piece suites. Neither stood higher than his waist, either, and both sucked their thumb. "Hi," Conner said, with an uneasy grin, "I'm Conner."

One of the little boys freed his thumb, "We know. Daddy said to take you to the glider bay. Follow us, please."

Conner swallowed, wishing he hadn't watched the Steven King marathon last weekend. Never the less, he grinned, "Lead the way."

In perfect synch, the boys led the way down the hallway and into a room that held one familiar face. Tommy Oliver, face as red as his shirt, was half hunched over. Beside him was a solidly built, dark haired man with a grin that made Conner want to bolt. "Hello Conner," the man said. "I'm sure you don't remember me, but we met two days ago. I'm Jason Lee Scott, Red Earth Ranger."

"Hi," Conner said, wishing that _he_ could turn invisible; "Hi, Dr. O."

"Conner," Tommy replied. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Yeah, that, uh, drink that, uh, Carlos and Cassie gave me worked wonderfully." Conner said.

"Sit down, then," Tommy said. "Have some breakfast, and we'll see about doing something with your face."

"My face?" Conner asked.

One of the other occupants of the room, a platinum blond who'd been watching everything while shoveling a mound of pancakes into his mouth and holding a gorgeous brunette close, looked at Conner. "That's kid's pant," he announced, "I think a certain pair of ferrets were having fun last night."

The creepy clone boys giggled and darted around Conner, who jumped, he hadn't realized that he'd forgotten them upon seeing Dr. O. "Zane," the lady said, "Honestly. Good morning, Conner, I'm Karone, this is Zane and these boys are Zeke and Keevan."

Conner took the seat offered and yawned, "So what happened?" He asked. Tommy dropped his head on the table, and everyone else perked up. "Or do I not want to know?"

"Well," Jason said, "it started when your oh so trustworthy science teacher decided you need alcohol to relax. Do you remember when he was trying to show you which drinks you should avoid?"

Conner nodded, "Yeah."

"I lied," Tommy said, "I switched the drinks."

"Ok," Conner replied.

"When I got there, you successfully managed to walk into both sides of a door before getting through it," Jason said, "you were fairly hammered, and Tommy was almost as bad. So I got you guys to Rocky's and you two decided to dance. It was scarring before I had enough alcohol. Especially the, uh, strip Macarena you did at one point."

"Strip Macarena?" Conner repeated.

"Don't ask," Jason replied, "because I just want to forget. Well, once we got drunk, we decided to see how far we could push you, Conner. I'm not exactly sure how we got from Javor to Aquitar, but I know that Billy won't forget it. You are such an exhibitionist, Conner. That's where we lost your shirt. Then we decided that KO-35 would be fun to visit. Andros and Zane were celebrating because Ashley's pregnant and we did a repeat of Andros's initiation. Well, we sang lewd songs in the memorial fountain in various stages of undress. Somehow, Zane managed to escape public notice, but we are the current nine day wonder on three planets. Now, we are returning to Earth, minus your shirt, underwear and a left sock."

Conner shook his head, "I'm not asking either. I'd rather just let the alcohol erase everything."

"Deal," Tommy replied.

RFDTRFDTRFDTRFDTRFDTRFDTRFDTRFDT

Ethan blinked at the tall, black man before him, "And you are?" He said.

"A friend of Dr. O's," the man said, "I've been asked to deliver this to you for a Ms. Hailey, owner of the Cyber Café." He held out a small, white package.

"Sure," Ethan said, "It isn't a bomb is it?"

"Not literally," the man smiled, "but there's enough blackmail on that tape to ensure that Tommy will behave himself for a long time. Watch it if you want, although I should warn you, there's a lot of nudity, and a very scaring version of the Macarena on that."

Ethan took the package, "I'll see that it gets to Hailey, and when I'm old enough, I'll borrow it from her."

The man laughed, "Good idea, listen, tell Hailey that Andros says hello and enjoy, ok? I'm TJ, by the way." He tapped a code into his wrist and vanished.

Ethan shrugged and took the box with him into the Cyber Café, "Hey Hailey," he called.

"Yeah Ethan?" Hailey replied.

"Some guy left this outside," Ethan replied, "He said his name was TJ and that Andros said hello and enjoy. He also said that it had a lot of blackmail potential."

"Give it!" Hailey rushed over.

Ethan handed it over, "When I'm eighteen, can I see it?"

"Sure, whatever," Hailey replied with a grin. "We'll throw a party." Clutching the box tightly, she vanished into the back of the café.

Conner wandered into the café, looking a little frazzled, "Hey guys," he said, slumping into a chair by Kira.

"What happened to you?" Kira asked.

"Dr O dragged me around to visit with his old friends," Conner replied, and then yawned. "I'm not sure I was properly sober from the time I got to Dr O's until I woke up on the Megaship. I certainly don't remember anything."

"So, you might now what's in that package that Hailey got," Ethan said.

"What package?" Conner replied.

"Some guy named TJ asked me to give it to her, said he was a friend of Dr O's and that there was good blackmail on the tape," Ethan shrugged.

Conner became very still, "TJ; was he just over six feet, black, wore a blue shirt and had a lot of muscles?"

"Yeah?" Ethan said.

"Didn't he look vaguely familiar to you?" Conner asked.

"Kind of, but I couldn't think of where I knew him from."

"_**Oh my God, TOMMY!"**_ Hailey shouted.

Conner dropped his head on the table, muffling his voice, "That was TJ Johnson, Blue Astro Ranger, and former Red Turbo. That tape was my weekend."


	13. The Journey Home

Disclaimer: I dont' own them!

A/N: So...Ike trying to blow me away awoke my muse with a vengance...this is part one of a trio...you ever hear that saying 'Good friends will bail you out of jail, but best friends are sitting next to you going 'Let's Do That Again!''...this is it...Ranger Style. Oh! And Conner's outfit at the beining is just for PinkRangerV, since you enjoyed it last time!

* * *

Conner sat on a bench, hands cradling his skull in the hopes of keeping everything from falling out. He felt worse than when he'd had pneumonia after playing soccer in a freezing spring rain. His mouth tasted horrible, his nose was running and he could barely open his eyes and he was freezing. In short, Conner McKnight was suffering from one of the worst hangovers he'd ever experienced, while sitting in his underwear. The rustle of cloth on metal, as loud to his painful ears as nails on a chalkboard, heralded the awakening of his partner in crime. "Where am I?" The person in question half-whispered.

"Jail," Conner replied, just as soft. "Angel County Jail."

"What?" Exclaimed the man, who then groaned in pain, Conner hissed as well.

"What do you remember, Nick?" Conner asked.

"Uh, we ran into you and went back to my place because my sister's out of town. Then we started drinking and the others left. That's pretty much it." Nick said.

"Well it's something," Conner replied, "We decided to go see Dr. O, but that didn't turn out so well."

"I should think not." Boomed a voice, sending both young men into huddled, whimpering, balls of humanity. "Conner McKnight, it's been a while since Tommy introduced us. I'm Jason Lee Scott."

Conner looked up, it took him a few minutes to focus properly, but when he did, he flinched, "Hello, Mr. Lee Scott, I remember you."

"And who is your friend?"

"Nick, Nick Russell. He's from Briarwood," Conner replied, tugging a little at his red shirt.

Jason's eyes widened slightly, and he turned to the cop, "So I can bail them out and take them home?"

"Well, yes, since neither of them have a history of drunk and disorderly, this will be their warning," the officer replied. "Next time, there will be some hefty fines involved."

"Yes sir," the two said.

The officer opened the door and they shuffled out the door. Conner looked at Jason hopefully, "I don't suppose you got the message about us needing clothes, did you?"

Jason sighed, "Yes, I left them up front."

One trip to the restrooms and a change into overly large sweatpants and t-shirts later, Conner and Nick rode with Jason to his house in subdued silence. Once inside, Jason turned to them, "Now, since I am not cruel, I'm going to let you two shower and take some aspirin before I lecture you. Rocky left some clothes here, so I'm sure we can find jeans better suited to you two, and I have plenty of red shirts."

So the pair showered, downed aspirin and found themselves in possession of decent fitting jeans and slightly oversized red shirts. They took a seat on Jason's couch and watched him settle into an armchair across from them. "First off," Jason said, "Nick, I'm Earth's Elder Red, which means I'm the oldest Red to serve. Your Senior Red is Shane, and we'll introduce you to him later. I'm right in seeing you as the new Red Ranger, from Briarwood?"

"Yes sir," Nick said.

"Great," Jason said. "Now then, are you two now aware of why Rangers don't drink on Earth? At least, to the point where alcohol overcomes wisdom? It's because most Rangers are very energetic drunks. Most of the time, it makes us all act like Rocky on an energy drink. We can either be cheerful and adventurous or we can get ourselves into bar clearing brawls. When there're civilians involved in those fights, people can die. The Power enhances our strength, among other things, and a punch that will bruise another Ranger can break bones. That and people talk when two young men appear in Angel Grove Park in their underwear and begin fighting with each other. Feel lucky that you were stopped before you did something only a Ranger could do. Besides which, most drunks only talk about doing things, Rangers, if they decided to do something, do so, loudly, and with occasional success. When we stop in Turtle Cove, you can ask Cole about the monkey and the penguins."

"Stop in Turtle Cove?" Conner repeated.

"Well, you two have left a trail of angry Rangers all down the West Coast. Since I have to drive you two to Tommy's anyways, it was decided that you should meet those Rangers who you managed to upset and let them deal with you." Jason stood, "So let's go, it's a long way to Reefside, and we've got plenty of places to stop."

Groaning, the two men stood and followed Jason out to his car.

RFMFRFMFRFMFRFMFRFMF

_Mariner Bay, California_

_Lightspeed Rescue Compound_

RFMFRFMFRFMFRFMFRFMFRFMF

"So," Carter said with amusement, looking at the two young men in Captain Mitchell's office. Both had expressions of acute embarrassment on their faces as they stared at their hands. "These are the two ruffians who showed up in the middle of the city laughing like a pair of hyenas who then proceeded to locate the vehicles of all of my team off-base and wrap them in toilet paper, except for Joel's which you covered in bubble wrap?"

"Yes," Jason said.

The two hunched their shoulders a little more, leaning toward each other as if for a bit of reassurance. "Well, what do you have to say for yourselves?" Carter prompted.

"We're sorry," they said, then looked at each other; clearly they hadn't expected to speak in unison.

Conner took up the speech, "We're not sure what we were thinking. Whatever it was, I'm sure that it made sense when we were drunk."

"All right," Carter replied, "I've done a few stupid things myself, with and without the influence of alcohol." Jason snorted, "So I'm not going to make a huge deal of this. However, you are both expected down here sometime this week to help clean those cars you tp'd. Also, I want a promise. Anymore drinking you two decide to do is to be conducted on planets other than Earth. Try Rocky's place on Javor. Nobody thinks twice about drunk Earth Reds being idiots there."

"Yes sir," Nick said.

"We'll make sure to do that," Conner added. "I'm not quite licensed but Tommy says it'll happen soon enough."

"Good," Carter said. "It's a bit of a drive to Silver Hills, so I guess I'd best see you three on your way."

"Thanks," Jason said. The boys bolted from the room and Jason and Carter followed. "Did you ever forgive me for that bet?" Jason asked.

"Yes," Carter replied. "Still doesn't mean I'll go into space though. My responsibilities here are enough for me."

"How is that project coming, by the way?" Jason asked.

"Slowly," Carter replied. "We have a direction and a goal; it's just the details that are bogging things down."

"Good," Jason replied. "Well, I guess I'd better get those two on up to Silver Hills. Wes sounded ready to rip their throats out."

"Drive safe," Carter said.

"Always," Jason said as the door to the outside opened.

RFMFRFMFRFMFRFMFRFMFRFMF

_Silver Hills, CA_

_Silver Guardians HQ_

RFMFRFMFRFMFRFMFRFMFRFMF

Wes leaned against the corner of his desk, arms crossed, eyes focused on the two repentant seeming young men before him. "You know, there are Rangers out there who worry about the youth of Earth's Rangers. They are afraid that the responsibilities will be too much for teenagers. Zordon's Ranger proved them wrong on that, but you two might prove them right." The two cringed back even more, "It's not my place to keep you two as Rangers or not. But I would like to know how you managed to paint _all_ of the Silver Guardians' vehicles in the time frame we established, and why you did so?"

Nick sighed, "I probably used my magic, I cannot remember. As to why, uh, maybe because it seemed like a good idea at the time?"

Wes's lips twitched, and Jason; standing behind the duo, grinned openly. "Well then, perhaps you would use your magic to change them back? My partner nearly had a heart attack, or an apoplexy, when he learned that his preferred vehicle had become hot pink and orange."

Jason's shoulders shook as he clamped one hand over his mouth.

"I will, sir," Nick said, flushing.

"Good. Now then, my partner, Eric, said that he wanted to have a word with you two."

Wes's voice trailed off as his office door swung open. It was Eric, with a scowl on his face. "Wes," he said.

"Eric," Wes replied, "meet Conner McKnight, Red Dino-Thunder and Nick Russell, Red Mystic Force. They were the ones who painted your SUV. Conner, Nick, this is Eric Myers, Quantum Ranger. He's also a Red."

Eric glowered at the two, who seemed to shrink under his gaze, "I hope you two plan on fixing the SUVs before you leave here," he growled.

"Yes sir," Nick managed. "I will, sir."

"Fine," Eric snapped and shut the door, hard. Moments later, he swung it back open, "And if you two ever decided to take your act on the road, make sure you get singing lessons before hand." Then he slammed the door shut.

Jason had both hands over his mouth and he was turning beet red while Wes just shook his head. "I'll take you two to the parking lot and let you work your magic." Giving Jason a pointed looked, Wes steered the thoroughly cowed young men out of his office.

Jason quietly counted to ten and then began to laugh out loud. After a few moments, he calmed himself, and then hurried after the others, because as amusing as the imagery was, he was sure the reality of Eric's SUV would be even better.

RFMFRFMFRFMFRFMF

_Turtle Cove, CA_

_The Animarium_

RFMFRFMFRFMFRFMF

Cole and Taylor faced off against Conner and Nick, with Jason, Danny and Max watching in the back ground. Taylor spoke first, "So, Eric and I were relaxing after work last night," she said, "when we heard the most God-awful singing in the world. I've heard cats who are more in tune than you two. Not only that, but your choice of songs horrible. If I ever catch you two near my home singing, I will have no choice but to give you a demonstration of how Eagle Zord hunts. If I ever hear you two sing _that song_ I will follow that by hanging you from power lines by your guts understand?"

"Yes ma'am," Conner and Nick replied, eyes focused on the ground. They were sitting on the bench before the sole table in the Animarium with the other two facing them, standing.

Cole nodded to Taylor, "Let me tell you a story," Cole said, settling onto the ground before the pair. "When I first became a Red, I was also taken to drink at an Earth bar. I also wound up arrested and having to be bailed out by my friends. Like you I was very lucky not to let the world know I was a power ranger. Although that might in part be because of my rather strident insistence that a group of penguins took my shirt and a koala stole my pants."

"A koala in a tree," Jason interrupted.

"What?" Cole asked.

"You were shouting that it was a koala in a tree that defeated you and claimed your pants as it's victory trophy," Jason replied. He paused, "Did you ever get those back?"

"No," Cole said, thoughtfully, "I never even thought to ask." He shook his head, "Back to the story, after that, I freed a chimpanzee from his enclosure and carried him to a local Wal-Mart supercenter. When the door greeter freaked out at the sight of the chimp, the chimp bolted and ate two thirds of their bananas, and caused like, four thousand dollars in damages to the frozen, produce and bakery departments."

"How did you avoid paying for it?" Conner asked, in total awe.

"The Red Wild Force Ranger showed up at my arraignment and told everyone that I'd been attacked by an Org who made the alcohol I'd consumed worse. Since nobody could refute the Red Ranger's claim I got off with a drunk and disorderly charge." Cole replied mater of factly.

"If you're the Red Wild Force Ranger, and you had to be in civilian form for your arraignment, then who had the morpher?" Nick asked.

Cole grinned, "Wes used it. Eric and Carter said they weren't the kind of actor Wes was. I think it's just 'cause Wes was the only one crazy enough to do it." He frowned, "That doesn't mean that what happened is ok. Rocky created the Haven for us, so that we don't get in trouble on Earth. Rangers are different, because of what we fight, and how we fight. The power changes us in more ways than you can possibly dream. Now then, I believe that Shane means to have words with you two in Blue Bay Harbor, so you might want to get on your way."

As Conner and Nick headed for the exit, Jason looked at Max, "What song did they sing?"

"I think it's called 'Little Moments'," Max said, "it's this guy singing about how sweet and cute and wonderful his girl is."

Jason chuckled, "I can see how that would displease Taylor. See you guys around." He turned and followed his charges back to Earth and his car.

RFMFRFMFRFMFRFMF

_Blue Bay Harbor, California_

_Wind Ninja Academy_

RFMFRFMFRFMFRFMFRFMF

Shane regarded his two Red Rangers for a long moment, and then he sighed, "What am I going to do with you two. Last year, I had to track down and put out fires across half the galaxy because Tommy decided to get Conner hammered and see what happened. Now, I'm going to have to deal with all of the older Rangers. Do you even have a brain, Conner? Do you know what you've risked for a bit of fun? Why didn't you wait until you could get off planet? Jeez, I'm not even sure what sort of trial I could invoke that would make people see you as something other than a drunken idiot, Nick. For right now, we're going to consider this little road trip your test, Nick. I expect you to prove me right in my faith. You get out of line even once and I will strip the Power from you and your future be damned. Conner, first warning, you only get one more. Talk to me about the next time you meet up with a new Red and we'll figure this out together. Do you both understand me?"

"Yes Shane," the miscreants chimed in unison.

"Good, now then, you two have to go talk to Tommy, and Nick, I believe that your Rangers are waiting for you in Reefside. Your Yellow Ranger seemed rather upset, something about a phone call?"

Conner and Nick exchanged glances and Nick winced, "You called your mentor, I apparently, called Chip. I've got a bad feeling about this."

They turned to Jason, "Can we go now?" Conner asked, "we might as well get this part over with."

Jason nodded, "Sure, let's go."

RFMFRFMFRFMFRFMFRFMF

_Reefside, California_

_Dr. Oliver's Home_

RFMFRFMFRFMFRFMFRFMF

There was a large crowd at Tommy's house when they arrived, both Conner's team, plus Hailey and Nick's team, including Udonna and Claire, were waiting for them. The two exchanged a long look, then nodded and let themselves out of Jason's car. They walked up the stairs side by side under the watchful eyes of Jason and Tommy. Conner led Nick into the Lair, where their teams awaited them. They hadn't spoken outside of apologies and excuses, but they both seemed to know what they were going to do. Conner stepped up to the plate first. "So," he said, "I've managed to test out Nick, and I think he's going to be a great ranger. I made a mistake; we should have headed up to Rocky's place. But hey, now you have someone to point out when you tell the Rookies why Red Rangers are known for their less than stellar ideas."

Nick shrugged, "I learned a lot, not that I remember much of last night, but I've met with every Red Ranger who ever served. I've gotten a few stories too. It wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had, but it happened, mea culpa, right? It was a calculated risk, Conner and Jason both agree, if you guys had really needed me and called, the Power would have drained any alcohol from my system and I would have been given a hangover from hell afterwards, but I would have been there for you."

"We did have fun," Conner said, he grinned, "isn't that the important thing? If you're going to break the rules you should totally have fun doing it!"

"Just so long as I never have to see you in your underwear," Ethan muttered, causing both Trent and Kira to acquire a green tinge to their faces. "Besides," he said, a little louder, "I thought you said you let me know if you were going MIA again."

"MIA?" Conner asked, confused.

"Yeah, Missing In Alcohol."

"We should go," Udonna said, as the laughter quieted down. "There is much that should be done. You have now missed a day of training, Nick, a day that you could ill-afford to lose."

"Yes Udonna," Nick replied.

"Hey Nick," Conner said, "Next weekend, want to hang out?"

Nick grinned, "Sure."

Jason and Tommy exchanged a look, "Just make sure that you're off planet, hey?" Tommy ordered them.

Nick gave them a two fingered salute as he passed through the spell seal Udonna cast, and Conner gave them a casual wave as he headed back up the stairs.

* * *

A/N2: Ah, first, no Nick did not flip anyone off, he tapped two fingers against his forehead like a military salute. Yes, I am taking liberties with magic...why not, Harry Potter could move around with magic...and it's AU. Yes, I deliberatly chose to paint Eric's SUV...it was a wonderful idea. Joel's car wrapped in bubble wrap was this idea that had no explanation in it...to quote Nick, 'I think it seemed like a good idea at the time'. Missing In Alcohol is a term my mom coined after the night she went out with friends, her cell phone's battery died and my dad couldn't reach her. A few days after that night, the police called the house to see if my mom was all right. Apparently, when Dad called work to find her, the managers notified the police that she might be missing. My mom blames the whole thing on a random bottle of Jack Daniels.


	14. Everyone Just Wants To Have Fun

Disclaimer: Do I look like a mouse...wait don't answer that.

* * *

_The Day after Tommy has a chat with Will (MiB)……………_

"Mr. Hartford, do you have a moment?" Tommy asked from the door to Hartford's office.

Andrew Hartford looked up and smiled, "Come on in, Dr. Oliver. Did you need something?"

Tommy sighed, "First, it's Tommy, sir. Second, well, this has to be one of the weirdest conversations I'm about to start."

"I'll call you Tommy when you start calling me Andrew," Andrew replied, "and don't you think you're exaggerating? I'm sure in your life you've had plenty of strange conversations."

"Well, I'm not so sure," Tommy said, moving into the room and sitting across from Andrew "Um, Andrew, I, well, we Red Rangers, want to kidnap Mack."

"What…why?" Andrew asked, startled.

"Well, Jason was shooting his mouth off at one of the festivals last month and got called on it. We need Mack to settle the issue. We might be able to get them to accept Nick, but they specified our Rookie Red in settling the matter. They want him to compete in a tournament that is held annually on Eltare. Some years back, the Lightspeed Red, Carter, set some pretty tough standards. Two years ago, one of the new kids from Javor broke those standards. It's our chance to get back the title of toughest humans in the galaxy." Tommy leaned back, "I don't want to kidnap him tonight, I mean, the tournament was last month, so we have a year to figure out if Mack can do it or not."

"A year," Andrew said.

"Yeah," Tommy said. "I'm coming to you as his mentor, and so I'm asking you to think as his mentor and not his father. In one year can we kidnap your son, convince him to compete in a tournament and maybe introduce him to alcohol?"

Andrew sighed, "I'll think about, Tommy. There are factors that you don't know about that might preclude my son from being a part of your tournament. Come ask me again in a year."

"Fair enough," Tommy said. He stood, "I'm not sure if I'll be a part of this. If not, Shane Clark, the Senior Red, will be in contact with you. For now, I have to leave; I have a class to teach tomorrow."

Andrew stood and the two shook hands, "I'll call if I have any problems, Tommy," he said.

"And I'll call if we run into one of those problems that you men with money can just make go away, ok?" Tommy said with a grin.

RFOORFOORFOORFOORFOORFOORFOO

_One Year Later…_

RFOORFOORFOORFOORFOORFOORFOO

Shane and Hunter exchanged glances, "So, Mack, you used to be an android," Shane said finally.

"And now I'm a real live boy?" Mack said with a groan. "Yes, I'm human, just stronger than most Rangers."

"Great," Hunter said, "Because we need you more than you need us right now. Are you willing to compete? We've told you what we can."

Mack grinned, "Sure, I'd love to. It would be fun to try to best all those other races."

"What's going on?" A slender, tall blond, dressed in jeans and a silvery shirt had wandered into the room.

"Tyzon!" Mack jumped up, "I thought you went back home?"

"I couldn't stay. I wanted to come and see my friends. Vela and I broke up." Tyzon replied.

Mack draped his arm over Tyzon's shoulders, "I'm sorry man. Oh, Ty, I want you to meet Shane Clark and Hunter Bradley; Shane's Red Wind and Senior, Hunter's Crimson Thunder. Shane, Hunter, this is Tyzon of Mercurion, he served with Op Overdrive as the Mercury Ranger."

Tyzon placed a fist to his heart and bowed, "Sirs, it is an honor."

"I didn't know there were Mercurian Rangers any more," Shane said. "I heard SPD had a base there."

Tyzon nodded, "Yes, they do. It is part of why I wished to leave. They were very, intent, on bringing me into their fold."

"They don't like wild card Rangers," Hunter said. "You might be looking at a longer visit to Earth than you may have planned."

"Is there something wrong with SPD?" Mack asked, "The little I've heard has been nothing but good."

"Nothing we can point at and say, 'This is wrong.'" Shane replied, "But we don't want them here on Earth, and for right now, we're the only voice Earth has and they're staying away."

"We've taken care of Earth for fifteen years," Hunter added, "and there's no reason now for us to be supplanted by a military group that the world has never heard of."

"Sounds good to me," Tyzon said; "if I'm welcome to stay, of course."

"How could you ever doubt it?" Mack exclaimed, "You're still a part of Operation Overdrive even if we aren't fighting monsters and traveling the globe. You're stuck with us, Ty. If nothing else, you can come to this tournament and help me from making a fool of myself."

Tyzon frowned, "What tournament."

"The Eltarean _Sess'naf'ghean,_" Shane said. "About seven years ago, the Rookie of the year set some impressive records for Humans at it, three years ago, one of the Javor Rangers broke those records. We want our title back, and Mack is one of the few Reds that are acceptable to compete."

"You refer to Carter Grayson and Alik, no?" Tyzon asked.

"Right," Shane said. "Carter's one of us. Alik is related by marriage to one of our older Reds, Rocky DeSantos, so it's a challenge to us that he got as far as he did."

"Well," Tyzon said, "I'm in, if you're going Mack. We'll need to bring, if not wear, our uniforms, and morphers, although we won't have to morph unless someone decides to try the Eltarean defenses. Anyone who would dare to attack during the _Sess'naf'ghean_ deserves the fate that awaits him."

"Great," Shane said, "you two should get your things together; we need to leave in the morning. Launch site is in Briarwood this year, go to the Rock Porium and tell one of the employees that you're looking for Nick Russell. He's the Mystic Force Red. Tell Nick who you are and where you need to be, he'll tell you where to go. For now, we have things to finish up before the tournament. We'll see you tomorrow."

RFOORFOORFOORFOORFOORFOO

"There's the Rock Porium," Rose said, pointing.

"Great, we're here," Will added.

Shaking his head, Mack parked the jeep and watched as Ronnie, Will and Dax parked their bikes behind them. The whole team had decided to go along on the trip, seeing as none of them had left the planet, except Tyzon. It was also a good excuse for them to spend time together. As the three bikers dropped their helmets in the jeep, Mack checked out their new uniform jackets, designed to be worn with either jeans or slacks, they were the similar black and color design of the full uniform, with the Op Overdrive logo on one shoulder and under it the number associated with their primary Zord. "Let's go," he said once everyone looked settled. He led them into the store and glanced around.

"Hi, welcome to Rock Porium, how can I help you?" A pretty girl with long brown hair tied back in a tail and an aqua colored shirt under her purple work shirt approached with a very large grin.

"My name is Mack Hartford," Mack said, "I'm looking for Nick Russell."

The girl, no, woman, seemed to change, "I'm sorry, but Nick isn't here today. Can I give him a message?"

"Will you call him now," Tyzon said, "and say that Shane Clarke and Hunter Bradley sent us to find him."

The woman nodded, "I'll do that. I'm Madison, by the way, and I used to be blue. Feel free to look around, but I'm sure Nick will be here pretty soon." She turned and hurried to the counter, where she had a hushed conversation with the cashier, a dark haired young man with a yellow undershirt.

"Blue?" Dax asked.

Tyzon coughed, "Mystic Force has a 'Lady Blue' as I believe Dr. Oliver termed it, and a male Yellow. They're one of two teams with that configuration; the Ninja Storm team is the other one. You remember Tori, I'm sure."

"Hold on," Will said, he turned, and then flashed them a grin, "Hey, Xander!"

A very familiar face leaned around a nearby shelf, "Will? Mack? What are you all doing here?" Xander asked.

"Shane told us to come down here," Mack said, he wandered over closer, "Nick Russell, I knew I knew that name! We're supposed to catch a ship to Eltare around here."

"Oh, you're going to the tournament with Nick then?" Xander asked.

"Yeah, I'm going to prove Jason right, I think." Mack replied.

Xander shrugged, "I went to that thing last year, and it's tough. I'm sure you'll do well though. Is the whole team going to?"

"Yeah, he needs the moral support," Rose replied. "How are things down here anyways?"

"Good, quiet," Xander replied. He glanced up, "Here's Nick. Nick, over here!"

Another dark haired young man joined them, "Yes, Xander."

"Nick, these are the Operation Overdrive Rangers, Mack, red, Will, black, Rose, pink, Ronnie, yellow, Dax, blue and Tyzon, Mercury, or rather, silver." Xander said.

"So we finally get to meet Xander's friends," Nick said dryly, "I'm Nick Russell, Mystic Force Red. I take it you're all going to Eltare then?"

"Why not?" Ronnie said.

"Great, well, Conner and the others are at the launch site. I know Maddie's coming; what about you Xander?" Nick said, turning to his Green Ranger.

"Yeah," Xander said, "I want to see how Mack does. I saw Carter's tape, so I suspect this will be very interesting."

"Great," Nick whistled and waved his arm, and moments later Madison appeared, backpack over her shoulder, "Maddie," Nick said, catching her by her waist, he dropped a kiss on her lips lightly, "these are the Operation Overdrive Rangers; Mack, Dax, Rose, Ronnie, and Tyzon."

"Nice to meet you," Madison said, "sorry about earlier. We just got rid of another group of reporters and we're all a bit on edge."

"No problem," Mack said. "We're ready to go then?"

Nick grinned, "Let's ride."

RFOORFOORFOORFOORFOORFOORFOO

There were four Dino-Thunders waiting at the launch site, sparking more greetings between Op Overdrive and Kira, another friend from when they'd lost their powers. They also got to meet Kira's 'boys' as they had come to be referred to as. Conner stayed long enough to collect their names before dragging Nick on board for a 'conference'. This brought a couple of resigned looks between the two teams, but they didn't treat it as unusual. Ethan proved to be a bit more enthusiastic than Kira had admitted and soon had Will and Rose chatting with him about security protocols and programs. Trent was aloof, his arm tight around Kira as if to establish his place. It didn't hurt when Dax recognized his name and announced his liking of Trent's comics. That got Chip involved and Trent backed out.

They piled into the ship, which rivaled the Megaship in size, in a mass of cheerful, chattering young people. While the others settled rooms, Mack found himself and Tyzon drawn aside by Nick and Conner. The two pulled them into a small conference room. It wasn't very big, and dominated by a table with a floating image of Earth above it. "Tyzon," Conner said, leaning against the holoboard in the center of the room. "We understand that your planet plays host to SPD?"

"Yes," Tyzon replied.

Nick stood next to Conner, but didn't lean against the table, his earlier mischievous look gone. "We have permission from the Senior and Elder Rangers, and we would like to extend an invitation to live on Earth if things get bad. We've sheltered other refugees before, not just from SPD, but other troubles. You've actually got a place and all, but this is for us to say, we're willing to let someone help you become an American citizen if that's what it would take."

Tyzon nodded, "I think I will accept your offer. SPD is not a bad group, but they are very eager to study Ranger technology and effects. Should I join them I might find myself no better than a common test animal."

"Great," Nick said, "now then, how the hell did we wind up with everybody but Hailey and Dr. Oliver on this trip?"

"Sheer dumb luck?" Conner offered. At Nick's look, he shrugged, "How often do the rest of the guys get off planet, Nick? We offered an open invitation to see what we see every Friday."

"Good point and it makes me glad that the Kerovans loaned us the _Rayven_ for the trip. We'd never fit into the _Firestorm_ or the _Mezadon Rover;_ or even both." Nick said. He shrugged, "We should get going, they'll be fighting over rooms for a while."

"We need to find bunks for ourselves as well," Tyzon said.

"Everyone has to double up; I'd suggest you two grab a room and a roommate fast." Conner added as he followed Nick to the door.

RFOORFOORFOORFOORFOORFOORFOO

Mack and Tyzon had left the rest of their team early on the last day of the open competition. Since the activities varied every year, Mack had not competed in the exact same activities as Carter had, but he was holding his own now. He'd joined in the Amare Hunt, which was a maze with obstacles to get through, and had come in fifth, then had come a series of races, divided by species, to keep it fair. Now, with Mack holding stead in twenty-third place out of two hundred competitors, they came to a very new addition, a melee that everyone would have to fight in. The Rangers would morph and fight until there were twenty-five fighters still standing and morphed. You could opt to leave the melee anytime after it started, and if you got knocked out of morph you were disqualified, but other than that it was basically no holds barred, and nothing like the elimination rounds that would follow.

Today, the two friends had found privacy in the simu-deck on the _Rayven_, where they created the view from the bluffs behind the mansion. "You worried?" Tyzon asked as they watched the waves beat the bluffs from the top.

"Sort of," Mack said, "I mean, I know that they've made this safe, but still, I'm doing a lot better than I should have. Certainly none of them expected me to be this good. I've beaten Alik and Carter's records very clearly, and that's what Tommy and the others wanted. I just don't know that I want to finish this."

"So, opt out. Stay in the fight long enough to make it look like someone else knocked your morph out. If you don't want to dance to their tune, why should you? You have showed me how to live amongst humans and to pass as one, but you have made it clear that I need to be myself just as much." Tyzon replied

Mack grinned, "Thanks Ty. I needed to hear that, ya know? At least one person won't think I'm a wimp if I don't want to finish this. I even have an excuse…Thrax tore the Morphin' Grid, and even though Alpha fixed it, whose to say that a lucky shot couldn't short the morph?"

"Nobody at all," Tyzon agreed.

"Excuse me, Mack and Tyzon," the computer, a rather unemotional personality known as Art said diffidently, "But it is time for the competitors to report."

Mack nodded, "Thanks Art." He stood.

Tyzon followed, "I guess I'll go herd the chickens."

Mack laughed, letting his head fall back and felt warmth slide through him. He'd coined the term for the rest of Op Overdrive because of their inexplicable ability to get into trouble just walking down the streets opened to the festival. Add in the Mystics and the Dino-Teens and it was a lost cause that anything would be done with a minimum of fuss. Especially since Doctor Oliver, Will, and the other Black Rangers who'd come along had vanished, leaving very few voices of reason in the clamoring throng. Of course, just the sight of Tyzon, who had once been so lost he had almost never spoke in public, spouting off a line like that was priceless.

The good mood inspired by Tyzon's wisecrack lasted until the melee started, which was good. It was not good, however, that the fight was horrible. Nobody really understood the rules or what to do, and so they tried to figure it out. Mack gathered up the other humans and formed a unit, using weapons, blasters and combat skills to create a safe circle, where they could watch each other's back with out fear. Mack got them organized, and then saw his chance…he leapt forward to take on a Wookie-like Halsper, who threw him into a brick wall. While the Power held, he dismissed the morph discretely as he hit the ground.

The teleportation crew sent him to the holding area, where Mack got checked over and dismissed to watch the other teams. The Humans were holding their own, backing up to cover holes and taking out many opponents. When they were down to five, the five exchanged looks and went berserk. They knew they'd go down, but they went down as five deadly dancers. Mack kept count. They took out fifty three opponents as a whole before they were taken down by their enemies.

When the fight was over, Mack found the other Earth Rangers and found himself the focus f celebration, after all, he's finished up at 35th place and that made him the toughest human to compete in the tournament. "All right," Shane said, catching everyone's attention, "We're taking Mack to celebrate, and by 'we', I mean everyone who wears RED. Yes, I'm referring to our theme rangers on this one. We'll be taking the _Hypershock_, I suggest that the rest of you redistribute the pilots and get back to Earth. We don't want to raise anymore suspicions, do we?"

RFOORFOORFOORFOORFOORFOORFOO

Thirteen Red Rangers teleported to Rocky's; including the man and his wife. They'd no sooner cleared the pad than a server appeared and whispered in Rocky's ear. Rocky grinned, "Tommy's here. Shall we?"

"Why, yes," Shane agreed, turning to Mack. "I'm sorry about this, Mack," he added.

Hands seized Mack's arms, and then his legs before he could react. He realized that it was his fellow reds that were…lifting him? It took a moment, but he was soon resting on their shoulders, despite his struggles. "Ready?" Jason asked.

Assent came in a low rumble, Mack closed his eyes. He heard the doors open, and then the Reds burst into song. "Alive, alive-o; alive alive-o, cockles and mussels alive, alive-o."

As he was carried around the bar to that tune, Mack vowed that he would get revenge, both on these Red Rangers, and on Tommy Oliver, who was, no doubt, the cause of this. Too many overheard conversations had told him that. His humiliation was meant to embarrass someone else…and they would pay.

* * *

A/N: Yes, this is the same tournament that Carter was in...it's kind of like the Olympics, except different. Those who don't know what a Wookie is...need to watch Star Wars, the original movies. Those who don't know what a melee is...well, back when Knights actually had to know how to fight, they would hold tournaments were they held mock battles, the melee was an event that anyone who competed could take place in. It's an every-man-for-himself fight were the object is to beat down as many people as you can. Last man standing wins. Very dangerous...but it sounds like fun to. The last scene can also be seen from Tommy's eyes in the story "A Calm Night". No, Conner and Nick are not together...they're just very good friends. They clicked, the way that some people do. There's a bit of kindred spirit there. Mack is going to be dragged in as their third kicking and screaming... or will it be Mack dragging them around kicking and screaming. The song is a play on the fact that Mack is now alive, and with flesh and bones.


	15. A Dish Served Cold

Disclaimer: Yeah, uh...not mine

* * *

Mack glowered at Conner and Nick. "You two were part of that utter humiliation I suffered at Rocky's bar," he said, in a low growl. "Now, I will forget that if you help me. Tommy Oliver is going out with some of the others, and there are plans afoot to tease him about that Purple Ranger. We are going to Ocean Bluff to fetch the Red, and that is all you need to know for right now."

Conner nodded, "I'm in. I owe Dr O for my initiation anyways."

"Me too," Nick said, he shrugged, "I'm persona non gratis at home right now, so going to Rocky's for the day should give time for tempers to calm down."

"What did you do?" Conner asked.

"Not that we need to know," Mack said, "let's go."

The three Reds piled into Mack's jeep, aka the newly repainted Op Overdrive vehicle. Although Mack was quiet, just listening to the radio and relaxing, Nick explained to Conner what had happened at Root Core. It was something involving Nick's pet dragon, Fireheart, Clair and a 'troblin' with a hefty dose of illusion berries and a small spell that Chip had unleashed without telling anyone.

Three hours later, they were in Ocean Bluff and pulling into a parking lot. "Jungle Karma Pizza," Conner read. "Sounds great, I'm starving."

"You two can eat," Mack said, "I need to talk to a man about borrowing his Ranger." He parked and the three walked into the nearly empty pizza parlor.

A frazzled girl behind the counter perked up, "Welcome to Jungle Karma Pizza," she said cheerfully, "have a seat anywhere you want."

Nick and Conner headed for a booth while Mack walked to the counter, "Can you let RJ know that Mack Hartford is here, please?"

"Sure," the girl said, she vanished into the back, and a slender Asian man in blue came out to take Conner and Nick's order.

Minutes later, Mack found himself holding off a rather enthusiastic RJ while laughing, "Easy there, Teach. Now, we need to talk shop, got somewhere we can go?"

"Of course, Mack, back here," RJ gestured to the kitchens.

They moved through the kitchens, where Mack was introduced as 'my former student slash boss's son Mack' and then into his home. "I always forget how incredible this place is," Mack said, "but it's a lot cleaner than it used to be."

RJ chuckled, "My students often find cleaning to be a punishment. Grab a seat, except my Chair, and let's talk."

Mack settled on the floor easily, he preferred it around RJ, which he didn't care to explain. "Well, as you know, I'm the Op Overdrive Red now." RJ nodded, "Well, Red Rangers have a tradition of initiating their Reds in various ways. I survived mine, and did even better than they expected. So we went out to celebrate, and they utterly humiliated me to embarrass one Doctor Tommy Oliver, Green, White, Red and Black Ranger. I'm going to make them pay me back. And that's every Red Ranger except for yours. Upstairs are two of them, Conner and Nick, who will be helping me with my revenge in return for no worse than I've already come up with."

"All right, why are you here?" RJ asked.

"I did some checking when I began planning my revenge, and it turns out that Dr Oliver teaches at Ocean Bluff High School now. Apparently, his fighting the principal slash evil villain in public made things too tense there. He quit as soon as he got another job. Now, Conner became a Ranger under Dr. Oliver's guidance, and later served with him. A pattern that is repeated here. I would like to see if you would permit your Red, should he so choose, to accompany me to the Ranger Haven on Javor tonight, where I have it on the best of authority that Dr Oliver will be with some old friends, in a purple shirt. I would like your Red to pretend that Dr Oliver is his mentor, in a situation similar to Conner's. Conner will give your Red some material to work with. Once Dr. Oliver is sufficiently agitated and the other members of his group are in possession of enough ammunition, we will leave, perhaps have a few drinks, and return to Earth. At least, I will, and with your Red if I have anything to say about it. Conner and Eric have a reputation for being wild and insane when drunk, with a habit of popping around the universe to 'visit' people they have met. I've been on a trip or two and I would not subject your Red to the trauma without a proper briefing before hand. What say you?"

"If Casey agrees," RJ said after a long moment, "I'm completely fine with it. Unless Tommy Oliver is likely to come and tear down my parlor in revenge."

Mack grinned, "I'm going to make sure he knows that I'm his target, RJ. We need a prank war going on, I think."

"All right," RJ said, he looked up and shouted, "Casey! Can you come here please?"

One of the people from the kitchen appeared on the balcony, "Yeah RJ?"

"Come down here, I need to talk with you." RJ replied.

The teen vanished for a moment and then came down stairs in a pair of jeans and a red shirt, "What did I do?" He asked.

"I don't know, why do you think you're in trouble?" RJ returned.

"Lily did it," Casey said.

"Nice, anyways, Casey, this is Mack Hartford, the Red Overdrive Ranger." Mack stood easily, "and Mack, this is Casey, the Red Jungle Fury Ranger."

"Nice to meet you," Mack said, offering his hand.

"Same here," Casey said, trying to look calm.

"Mack needs a favor. I've agreed to the idea, but it is contingent on your agreement," RJ said, "so I'll let you two talk it over."

"Right," Casey said. "Shall we sit?"

"Sure," Mack said. He was amused to see Casey lead him over to a table just off the court.

"So, how can I help you?" Casey asked.

Mack leaned onto the table, "Red Rangers have an initiation tradition. They require the new Reds to do things that are, or can be, humiliating, or crazy, or even seem to be pointless until later. It's tradition, and if you're willing to go along, it can even be fun. Afterwards, the Reds all go out for a drink and then go home. It's been that way for centuries, probably as far back as there have been Rangers. When I was initiated, however, they broke tradition. I was placed in a humiliating situation after my initiation for the purpose of humiliating another Red. I want revenge, both on those who planned the prank, and the cause of the prank. I know how to get the cause back, but I need your help."

"How?" Casey asked.

"Tonight, the person, Doctor Tommy Oliver, will be at a place called the Ranger's Haven, we on Earth just call it Rocky's, because the owner is a former Earth Red who married a Red from Javor. Doctor Oliver will be wearing a purple shirt. Should you agree, we will also go to Rocky's bar. I will bring you over to their table and you will act as if you know Doctor Oliver, as if he is, in fact, your mentor. Seeing as Doctor Oliver is now a science teacher in Ocean Bluff, this will be something easy to convince his companions of. Upstairs is a former teammate of the Good Doctor, who worked with him in the Mentor/Teammate relationship you share with RJ. He will give you some ammunition; things only someone who has broken into his house on a regular basis for four or five years could know. Once we have given enough ammunition away, we will leave, have a few drinks and return to Earth, living Conner, the former teammate and his partner in crime, Nick, to their own devices. Will you help me?"

Casey considered it and grinned, "Does this mean you'll owe me one?"

Mack grinned, "Of course it does. What do you say?"

"I'll do it."

RFJFRFJFRFJFRFJFRFJF

"Ready?" Mack asked.

"Yeah," Casey said.

"We're good," Conner said after a glance at Nick.

They walked into the bar and stopped, "This is the Ranger Haven," Mack said easily, "only Rangers are allowed inside. We just call it Rocky's or Rocky's bar. It's one of the few drinking establishments that can handle a large group of Earth Rangers showing up and in the mood to celebrate."

"Hey look, it's Dr. O!" Conner said, pointing.

"Perfect timing," Mack said, "come on, I'll introduce you."

The quartet walked over to one group of tables that fell silent at their approach, "Mack, Conner, Nick," Tommy said, "who is this?"

"Dr O?" Casey asked, "You know me. You were tossing me to the mat just this morning."

"What?" Tommy asked.

"You know, during practice, before you went to work and Lily, Theo and I went to help RJ at the pizza place? Lily took out Theo and I got distracted and you threw me five feet."

"I'm sorry," Tommy began.

"Oh, c'mon, Dr O," Conner said, "you can drop the act. Casey's been telling us all sorts of stories. Although, I have to wonder, did you have to repeat that line?"

"What line?" Tommy asked, looking confused.

"You know," Casey said, "'Sorry, can't help you, I'm just a high school science teacher'?"

"Tommy, have you been lying to us?" Rocky asked, a look of wicked amusement on his face.

"No- I-" Tommy protested.

"You live in Ocean Bluff," Will pointed out, he winked at Mack a moment later.

"You're wearing _Purple_," Wes added.

Mack signaled the others, and they drew back as the group began to pick at Tommy for his supposed role as the Purple Jungle Fury Ranger. "Excellent," Mack said. "Nicely played guys. Let's go celebrate."

* * *

A/N: Yes...this is short, sorry. It also marks the temporary end to Red Fraternity. Why temporary? Well...they'll be back Next Season!

Mack and RJ...RJ had some weird story about how he got the morphers, my version? He helped Hartford make the Op Overdrive and trained Mack to fight some, when RJ learned he needed morphers, he went back to Hartford and then made up a story about how he got them.

Tommy in Ocean Bluff...THIS IS AU, that means, I can do things a little different. Tommy had trouble at Reefside after his fight with Randal, so he found a different town. It's a coincidence that he chose Ocean Bluff but it also makes it easer for Mack's prank.

There will be a sequal either called The Prank War or Mack's Revenge, I'm not sure yet. That story will be delayed in coming out. See...Tommy's going to get Mack back, and Mack still has to get the other Reds that helped 'humiliate' him at Rocky's. Besides, I haven't written a prank war before, I see it as a challenge. However, I want to finish Who Heals The Healers: Green Candle Arc and The Mutiny Arc before I start that. If you have any ideas...let me know.


End file.
